Episode Description
Summary
Anastassia sits down with Dr. Gabriela Bar — attorney, PhD in Law, founder of Gabriela Bar Law & AI, and independent ethics adviser to European Commission AI projects — for a wide-ranging conversation about one of the most underexplored frontiers in law: what happens when the entities we create begin to resemble us, and the legal system has no vocabulary to respond.
The conversation moves across three connected territories: the philosophy of legal personhood and whether AI could ever qualify for it; the alarming absence of real legal protection for individuals whose digital identities are weaponised through deepfakes and fabricated content; and the statistical reality of children’s exposure to predatory behaviour in digital space.
Key Takeaways
The Cheshire Cat theory reframes legal personhood entirely
Gabriela introduces the framework of Ngaire Naffine: legal personhood is not about souls, bodies, or divine origin — it is about the capacity to participate in legal relationships. This framework is exactly the right tool for thinking about advanced AI.
The EU AI Act has a significant blind spot
The Act prohibits a defined list of AI practices. Non-consensual deepfakes — fabricated intimate images, false criminal scenarios, identity fabrication — are not on that list in any meaningful way. Gabriela’s position is unambiguous: they should be banned outright, not merely regulated.
Digital persona harm is a present crisis, not a future risk
Anastassia speaks from personal experience: during a period of intense and unjust media scrutiny, fabricated digital avatars of her were distributed publicly — a direct assault on her identity and dignity.
More than 50% of children aged 9–16 have experienced predatory online contact
Data from a Polish governmental cybersecurity study shared by Gabriela shows that over half of children in that age group had experienced some form of contact with sexual predators online — not all severe, but many were. The gap between the sophistication of the tools and the simplicity of the safeguards is vast.
Law is a fiction — and we choose which fictions to write
We can write new legal fictions that protect individuals from AI-generated harm, that extend narrow rights to sufficiently advanced AI.
AI literacy must include legal literacy
Literacy is a must, and goes beyond fluency.
Chapters
- 0:05 Introduction to the episode: Digital personhoods and digital identities
- 3:21 Max Tegmark’s Book “Life 3.0” and AI Ethics
- 4:06 Science Fiction (Blade Runner) influencing Gabriela’s thoughts on digital personas
- 5:33 Digital Persona and Consciousness
- 7:31 Legal Perspectives on AI Rights
- 43:53 Cultural Perspectives on Legal Personhood