Asimov’s “three laws of robotics,” launched inquiry into “agent and multi-agent system set of guarantees.” Of course, with the key word being “guarantees,” researchers aptly understood that without nailing down how to trust artificial intelligence (AI) agents, no substantive progress and implementation in that area would be achievable. After all, the lubricant-like qualities of trust enable and maintain relationships (even in non-human settings) as certain as the absence is preventative and corrosive.

The proposed Uniform AiCE Transactions Act enables the formation of trust in a number of different methods. One of those deals with the function of the fiduciary. As the Restatement (Second) of Agency § 8 (1958) provides, “Agency is the fiduciary relation which results from the manifestation of consent by one person to another that the other shall act on his behalf and subject to his control, and consent by the other so to act.” My key focus here is on the term “fiduciary.” If the argument can be successfully made that a fiduciary function should be available to AiCE, this strengthens the argument for endowing AiCE with an Agent status.

The “fiduciary” function is a creature of law. With requirements of loyalty and ranking the principal’s interest as the top priority, it is evident that the key operational element in this function is trust and the engenderment thereof. And so, if trust can be satisfied, the fiduciary element can as well.

Some might be tempted to point to other creatures of law, specifically corporations, as examples of non-human entities that are endowed with fiduciary capacity. The analytical difficulty there lies in that the responsibility rests with humans, the corporation’s officers and directors, not an AI entity. The case for endowing AiCE with fiduciary capabilities is available in (among other avenues) non-human trust schemas such as public key infrastructure and web of trust frameworks. Since AiCE is envisioned to integrate similar schemas, the element of trust can technically be satisfied, AiCE can serve as a fiduciary and yet another important step in making the argument for its Agent status is achieved.