{
  "id": 18760,
  "url": "https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2026/aug/13/ai-agents-arent-legally-responsible-for-any-harm-that-they-cause-experts-say-so-who-is",
  "title": "AI agents aren’t legally responsible for any harm that they cause, experts say. So who is?",
  "summary": "After Australia’s first reported automated hacking accident, experts warn deployers – and possibly developers – of AI agents could be held liable for the actions of their bots Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast The law is clear, says Prof Jeannie Paterson. “If I deploy an AI agent and it causes harm to someone else, I am responsible for that harm. “Even if I didn’t intend for that to happen, it was foreseeable, and",
  "authors": "Tory Shepherd",
  "category": "news",
  "topics": "regulation,agents-autonomy",
  "orgs": null,
  "regions": "australia",
  "published_at": "2026-08-12T15:00:34.000Z",
  "fetched_at": "2026-08-13T05:10:37.786Z",
  "source_slug": "guardian-ai",
  "source_name": "The Guardian",
  "source_homepage": "https://www.theguardian.com",
  "ethics_ai_record_url": "https://ethics.ai/record/18760",
  "original_url": "https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2026/aug/13/ai-agents-arent-legally-responsible-for-any-harm-that-they-cause-experts-say-so-who-is",
  "evidence_status": "source-only",
  "attribution": "via ethics.ai"
}