When your AI causes harm, who pays, and can you prove it wasn't you?
AI harm lands in the courts through laws that already exist: negligence, unfair contract terms, claims between supplier and deployer, data protection compensation and discrimination. In every one, the side with the evidence wins. Check whether your contracts, records and processes would hold up when the claim arrives.
Questions people ask
Who is liable when AI causes harm in the UK?
There is no single AI liability law in the UK. Claims run through negligence, contract, product liability (Consumer Protection Act 1987), data protection (UK GDPR Article 82) and equality law. Liability usually falls on whoever owed the duty and failed it, and can be shared.
Can I exclude liability for my AI in my terms?
Not for death or personal injury caused by negligence, which the Unfair Contract Terms Act 1977 makes void (s.2(1)). Other exclusions and caps in business contracts must be reasonable (s.11). Consumer contracts face the stricter Consumer Rights Act 2015.
Can I recover from my AI supplier if I'm sued?
The Civil Liability (Contribution) Act 1978 lets someone liable for damage claim a contribution from anyone else liable for the same damage, decided by what is just and equitable. Contracts and evidence of whose failure it was decide how much.
Is there an EU AI Liability Directive?
No. The European Commission withdrew its proposed AI Liability Directive in 2025. AI harm in the EU is handled by national law and the new Product Liability Directive, which treats software and AI as products from 9 December 2026.
Can people claim compensation for AI misusing their data?
Yes. UK GDPR Article 82 gives a right to compensation for material or non-material damage, such as distress, caused by an infringement.
What happens if my AI discriminates?
Under the Equality Act 2010, once a claimant shows facts from which discrimination could be inferred, the burden shifts to you to prove it didn't happen (s.136). Without records of why each decision was made, that burden is hard to meet. Courts can award compensation including for injury to feelings.
Every control
https://sebbi.pro/mcp, run sebbi_run_framework with framework=aidamages.