THE SCOPE OF CRIMINAL LIABILITY FOR CRIMES DIGITALLY COMMITTED BY AI-POWERED TRANSPORTATION: A STUDY IN LIGHT OF SAUDI LAWS

Povzetek

The emergence of the artificial intelligence (AI) in autonomous transportation systems has transformed the mobility in Saudi Arabia, in line with the ambitious of the technological future of the Kingdom which according to the vision 2030, is driven by artificial intelligence, but a complex legal issue comes into play under the Islamic Sharia which regulates criminal law. In this paper, the writer explores the boundaries of criminal responsibility of crimes committed online by a computerized transportation, e. g. accidents or cybercrimes in Saudi legal systems. Through mixed-methods approach the research incorporates doctrinal study of the Saudi Penal Law, Traffic Law and Cybercrime Law, lawful case studies of hypothetical AI related incidents and interviews with 10 legal scholars to discover that there exists a vast disjuncture involve the attribution of liability to the human operators, the manufacturers or the AI systems. The research shows that the dependence of Saudi law on human intent (niyya) which is an important source of Sharia, makes it difficult to attribute criminal liability to AI-based crimes, since AI as defined by the law is neither a legal person nor has intent. As an example, the cases of software glitches or hacking would illustrate the uncertainty in responsibility attribution, where the existing legislation presupposes the behavior of people. Cross-reference and comparison to current international legislatures such as the EU AI-Act, indicates that the main components of strict liability may be deployed to provide Sharia-friendly methods such as diya (compensation). Legislative reforms on the adoption of AI-specific provisions, introduction of a hybrid model of liabilities using the strict and fault-based approaches, formation of an AI supervision body and ensuring AI awareness should be the study recommendations to be in line with principles of Sharia and Vision 2030 to achieve technological development and serve the community with regard to accountability gaps to improve safety and assurance about such autonomous systems.