A Legal Definition of AI

Abstract: When policy makers want to regulate AI, they must first define what AI is. However, legal definitions differ significantly from definitions of other disciplines. They are working definitions. Courts must be able to determine precisely whether or not a concrete system is considered AI by the law. In this paper we examine how policy makers should define the material scope of AI regulations. We argue that they should not use the term "artificial intelligence" for regulatory purposes because there is no definition of AI which meets the requirements for legal definitions. Instead, they should define certain designs, use cases or capabilities following a risk-based approach. The goal of this paper is to help policy makers who work on AI regulations.