EVOLUTION OF THE ATTRIBUTES OF A SOURCE OF INCREASED DANGER IN THE TRANSITION FROM PHYSICAL TO ALGORITHMIC THREATS

The article reconsiders the concept of a source of increased danger in the context of the introduction of autonomous systems. It is argued that for the purposes of Art. 1079 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation this concept should be understood primarily as a risk-generating activity beyond full human control. The author shows that for artificial intelligence and highly automated vehicles the classical criterion of uncontrollability manifests itself as the objective unpredictability of their autonomous decisions. To distinguish such objects from standard automated algorithms the article proposes to amend para. 1 of Art. 1079 by explicitly extending strict liability to their operation.