28 Oct 2015

What happens when computers learn to break the law?

From Nine To Noon, 9:19 am on 28 October 2015

Seventy percent of stock trading is now done by computers instead of people. These trading bots use a form of artificial intelligence to analyse trends in the market, scan the world's media for news that might affect stock prices and formulate new trading strategies. All without any need for human intervention. But what happens when the trading bot learns to do something on the stock market that might be illegal? Who gets prosecuted?

Auckland University law lecturer Benjamin Liu has turned his mind to that question – and the legal implications of other new technologies – in a recent article in the legal magazine LawTalk.

He talks with Kathryn Ryan about the power and risks of machine learning.

digital reaper

Photo: Public Domain