Spark

Robots and the law

Getting off bot-free.

This story first aired in March, 2016.

Ryan Calo is an assistant professor of law at the University of Washington and a co-director of the Tech Policy Lab. In his new paper, Robots in American Law, Ryan argues that the law needs to keep up with developments in the robotics field because of the unique legal challenges they pose.

In the episode, Ryan mentions a cornerstone case in robotics law that involves a Samsung ad with a robot that looks an awful lot like Wheel of Fortune's Vanna White:

(Image via Michigan Law Professor Jessica Litman)

Find out more about the curious precedents in present-day law around robots in Ryan's article, What the past of robotics law says about its future.