Legal Problematics of Smart Agents Concluding Smart Commercial Contracts in the (Blockchain) Era – State of Kuwait and UAE as Model: A Comparative Analytical Study
Dr. Ahmed Mustafa Al Dabousy
Assistant Professor of Commercial and Maritime Law – College of Law – American University in the Emirates – Dubai – UAE
Abstract:
The major advancement in the field of the Internet has led to the emergence of the Blockchain technology, which has caused great leaps in the field of concluding contracts. This in turn has led to the introduction of smart contracts, which are contracts concluded through the Blockchain technology and do not require the intervention of a human element. Smart contracts played an important role in the emergence of the so-called smart agent, a mixture of information technology programs and artificial intelligence, through which commercial contracts can be concluded without the need to refer to its user. Some of the qualities of the smart agent include independence of action, the ability to communicate with others, assistance and initiative in concluding and implementing contracts without referring to its user every time.
Despite the fact that the legislature in both the United Arab Emirates and the State of Kuwait has provided a definition of the smart agent, there is a legislative vacuum with regard to smart contracts in both countries. This vacuum raises many legal questions, the most important of which are: How can artificial intelligence play the role of the agent in concluding commercial contracts concluded via Blockchain? What is the legal status of the smart agent? Can the agent be recognized as a legal personality independent or separate from its user?
The study reached a set of results, the most important of which are: Blockchain technology is a means for completing legal actions and transactions and concluding contracts without the need to refer to a third party, and smart commercial contracts have not yet been legally regulated in the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait, which has isolated them from the legal system. Hence, the study recommends the legislator in both countries to enact legislation that defines the legal status of the smart agent, grants it the independence necessary to conclude smart contracts via Blockchain technology, and stipulates that the personality of the smart agent is independent of the personality of its user in concluding smart contracts via Blockchain technology.
Keywords: artificial intelligence, personality of the smart agent, legal status of the smart agent, conclusion of contracts, commercial exchanges.