JURISPRUDENCE
Frankenstein and Artificial Intelligence
CORE RESEARCH QUESTIONS
Liability of Creators
We need to ask the question of who bears responsibility in the eyes of the law when autonomous creations cause harm to society.
When we consider Victor Frankenstein's abandonment of his creation, how does this mirror the modern debates over the accountability of AI developers?
Entity Personhood
We need to ask the question if intelligence, even autonomous, warrants legal recognition.
The creature's plea for rights as a human, or a member of society, can challenge our understanding of personhood, a question equally relevant for advanced AI systems, the same as the challenges for corporations and associations.
Duty of Society
We need to ask the question of how communities can balance innovation with protection of rights, both through the viewpoint of ethics and morals but also legality.
Shelley's townspeople rejected the creature, just as society grapples with integrating AI into legal frameworks.
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley serves as a text that lays the foundation for examining the frameworks, both legal and ethical, surrounding the research, development, deployment, and implementation of artificial intelligence in everyday life.
This research explores the responsibility of creators and the intersection of the rights regarding autonomous entities, their personhood, and the accountability of society through the lens of Gothic literature and contemporary AI jurisprudence.
Historical Parallels
How does Shelley's 1818 narrative anticipate modern legal challenges in AI development and deployment?
  • Duty of care obligations
  • Foreseeability standards
  • Moral agency definitions
Contemporary Applications
What jurisprudential frameworks can address AI autonomy while protecting human interests?
  • Liability attribution models
  • Rights-based approaches
  • Regulatory governance structures
Methodology
Literary Analysis
The study involves a close reading of Frankenstein and related texts to extract legal and ethical themes relevant to creator-creation relationships.
Case Law Review
A review and examination of newly emerged AI litigation and regulatory decisions across multiple jurisdictions.
Comparative Synthesis
The study integrates literary insights with legal scholarship to propose new frameworks for the application of artificial intelligence.
"I ought to be thy Adam, but I am rather the fallen angel" — The Creature's words resonate with questions of AI rights, responsibilities, and the moral obligations embedded in acts of creation.
Key Implications
1
Regulatory Frameworks
Developing comprehensive legal structures that acknowledge AI as neither fully autonomous nor purely instrumental requires rethinking traditional liability models.
2
Ethical Governance
Establishing oversight mechanisms that prevent abandonment scenarios while fostering innovation demands multi-stakeholder collaboration across tech, legal, and policy sectors.
3
Rights Architecture
Determining appropriate legal status for increasingly sophisticated AI systems challenges fundamental assumptions about consciousness, agency, and moral consideration in jurisprudence.
This research bridges romantic literature with cutting-edge technology and the application of law, demonstrating how narratives illuminate their challenges, and by examining Frankenstein through a jurisprudential lens, we can dive into the questions about innovation, responsibility, and the social contract between creators and their creations.
Works Cited
Botting, Eileen Hunt. Mary Shelley and the Rights of the Child: Political Philosophy in “Frankenstein.” University of Pennsylvania Press, 2018.
Carpi, Daniela. Monsters and Monstrosity: From the Canon to the Anti-Canon: Literary and Juridical Subversions. Walter de Gruyter, 2019.
Hammerman, Robin. Frankenstein and STEAM: Essays for Charles E. Robinson. Rutgers University Press, 2022.
Shelley, Mary. Frankenstein: Annotated for Scientists, Engineers, and Creators of All Kinds. MIT Press, 2017.
Shelley, Mary. Frankenstein: The 1818 Text, Contexts, Criticism. Norton Critical Editions, 2021.

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