London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Tuesday, Oct 07, 2025

Robo-cop: EU wants firms to be held liable for harm done by AI

Robo-cop: EU wants firms to be held liable for harm done by AI

New liability regime would give victims of AI systems their day in court.
The European Commission on Wednesday proposed new rules that would see makers of artificial intelligence-powered software and products forced to compensate people harmed by their creations.

A new AI Liability Directive would make it easier to sue for compensation when a person or organization gets hurt or suffers damages through artificial intelligence-powered drones and robots or because of software such as automated hiring algorithms.

“The new rules will give victims of damage caused by AI systems an equal chance and access to a fair trial and redress,” Justice Commissioner Didier Reynders told reporters ahead of the presentation of the proposals.

The draft law is the latest attempt by European officials to regulate AI and set a global standard to control the flourishing technology. It comes as the EU is in the throes of negotiating the AI Act, the world’s first bill to rein in high-risk uses of AI, including facial recognition, "social scoring" systems and AI-boosted software for immigration and social benefits.

“If we want to have real trust of consumers and users in the AI application, we need to be sure that it's possible to have such an access to compensation and to have access to real decision in justice if it's needed, without too many obstacles, like the opacity of the systems,” said Reynders.

Under the new law, victims would be able to challenge a provider, developer or user of AI technology if they suffer damage to their health or property, or suffer discrimination based on fundamental rights such as privacy. Until now, it has been hard and extremely expensive for victims to build cases when they think they have been harmed by an AI because the technology is complex and opaque.

Courts would get more power to pry open the black boxes of AI companies and ask for detailed information about the data used for the algorithms, the technical specifications and risk-control mechanisms.

With this new access to information, victims could prove that damage came from a tech company that sold an AI system or that the user of the AI — for instance, a university, workplace or government agency — failed to comply with obligations in other European laws like the AI Act or a directive to protect platform workers. Victims would also have to prove the damage is linked to the specific AI applications.

The European Commission also presented a revamped Product Liability Directive. The 1985 law is not adapted for new product categories like connected devices, and revised rules aim to enable customers to claim compensation when they experience harm from a defective software update, upgrade or service. The proposed product liability rules also bring online marketplaces into the crosshairs, which, according to the rules, can be held liable if they don't disclose the name of a trader to a person that experienced harm upon request.

The Commission's proposal will still need approval from national governments in the EU Council and from the European Parliament.

Parliament in particular could object to the European Commission's choice to propose a weaker liability regime than it itself suggested earlier.

The chamber in 2020 called on the Commission to adopt rules to ensure victims of harmful AI can obtain compensation, asking specifically that developers, providers and users of high-risk autonomous AI could be held legally responsible even for unintentional harm. But the EU executive decided to go with a “pragmatic” approach that is weaker than this strict liability regime, saying the evidence was “not sufficient to justify” such a regime.

“We chose the lowest level of intervention,” said Reynders. “We need to see whether new developments [will] justify stronger rules for the future.”

The Commission will review whether a stricter regime is needed, five years after it comes into force, it said.
Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
France: Less Than a Month After His Appointment, the New French Prime Minister Resigns
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán stated that Hungary will not adopt the euro because the European Union is falling apart.
Sarah Mullally Becomes First Woman Appointed Archbishop of Canterbury
Mayor in western Germany in intensive care after stabbing
Australian government pays Deloitte nearly half a million dollars for a report built on fabricated quotes, fake citations, and AI-generated nonsense.
US Prosecutors Gained Legal Approval to Hack Telegram Servers
Macron Faces Intensifying Pressure to Resign or Trigger New Elections Amid France’s Political Turmoil
Standard Chartered Names Roberto Hoornweg as Sole Head of Corporate & Investment Banking
UK Asylum Housing Firm Faces Backlash Over £187 Million Profits and Poor Living Conditions
UK Police Crack Major Gang in Smuggling of up to 40,000 Stolen Phones to China
BYD’s UK Sales Soar Nearly Nine-Fold, Making Britain Its Biggest Market Outside China
Trump Proposes Farm Bailout from Tariff Revenues Amid Backlash from Other Industries
FIFA Accuses Malaysia of Forging Citizenship Documents, Suspends Seven Footballers
Latvia to Bar Tourist and Occasional Buses to Russia and Belarus Until 2026
A Dollar Coin Featuring Trump’s Portrait Expected to Be Issued Next Year
Australia Orders X to Block Murder Videos, Citing Online Safety and Public Exposure
Three Scientists Awarded Nobel Prize in Medicine for Discovery of Immune Self-Tolerance Mechanism
OpenAI and AMD Forge Landmark AI-Chip Alliance with Equity Option
Munich Airport Reopens After Second Drone Shutdown
France Names New Government Amid Political Crisis
Trump Stands Firm in Shutdown Showdown and Declares War on Drug Cartels — Turning Crisis into Opportunity
Surge of U.S. Billionaires Transforms London’s Peninsula Apartments into Ultra-Luxury Stronghold
Pro Europe and Anti-War Babiš Poised to Return to Power After Czech Parliamentary Vote
Jeff Bezos Calls AI Surge a ‘Good’ Bubble, Urges Focus on Lasting Innovation
Japan’s Ruling Party Chooses Sanae Takaichi, Clearing Path to First Female Prime Minister
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs Sentenced to Fifty Months in Prison Following Prostitution Conviction
Taylor Swift’s ‘Showgirl’ Launch Extends Billion-Dollar Empire
Trump Administration Launches “TrumpRx” Plan to Enable Direct Drug Sales at Deep Discounts
Trump Announces Intention to Impose 100 Percent Tariff on Foreign-Made Films
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Singapore and Hong Kong Vie to Dominate Asia’s Rising Gold Trade
Trump Organization Teams with Saudi Developer on $1 Billion Trump Plaza in Jeddah
Manhattan Sees Surge in Office-to-Housing Conversions, Highest Since 2008
Switzerland and U.S. Issue Joint Assurance Against Currency Manipulation
Electronic Arts to Be Taken Private in Historic $55 Billion Buyout
Thomas Jacob Sanford Named as Suspect in Deadly Michigan Church Shooting and Arson
Russian Research Vessel 'Yantar' Tracked Mapping Europe’s Subsea Cables, Raising Security Alarms
New York Man Arrested After On-Air Confession to 2017 Parents’ Murders
U.S. Defense Chief Orders Sudden Summit of Hundreds of Generals and Admirals
Global Cruise Industry Posts Dramatic Comeback with 34.6 Million Passengers in 2024
Trump Claims FBI Planted 274 Agents at Capitol Riot, Citing Unverified Reports
India: Internet Suspended in Bareilly Amid Communal Clashes Between Muslims and Hindus
Supreme Court Extends Freeze on Nearly $5 Billion in U.S. Foreign Aid at Trump’s Request
Archaeologists Recover Statues and Temples from 2,000-Year-Old Sunken City off Alexandria
China Deploys 2,000 Workers to Spain to Build Major EV Battery Factory, Raising European Dependence
Speed Takes Over: How Drive-Through Coffee Chains Are Rewriting U.S. Coffee Culture
U.S. Demands Brussels Scrutinize Digital Rules to Prevent Bias Against American Tech
Ringo Starr Champions Enduring Beatles Legacy While Debuting Las Vegas Art Show
Private Equity’s Fundraising Surge Triggers Concern of European Market Shake-Out
Colombian President Petro Vows to Mobilize Volunteers for Gaza and Joins List of Fighters
×