On Thursday, April 6, we hosted scholars from around the nation and Canada for a special event to celebrate Larry and Joyce Beltz Professor of Torts and Associate Dean for Academic Affairs Shawn Bayern and his latest book, “Autonomous Organizations.” In the book, Bayern proposes a new way to use corporate law and limited liability companies law to give legal personhood to software, including artificial intelligence, and explains why doing so isn’t as alarming as it sounds. The book forum was a lively discussion on the social and political aspects of new autonomous organizational structures and their implications for legal theory. Panelists included Bayern; Susan Morse, the Angus G. Wynne, Sr. professor in civil jurisprudence and associate dean for academic affairs at the University of Texas Law School; Anthony Casey, the Donald M. Ephraim professor of law and economics and deputy dean at the University of Chicago Law School; and Anthony Niblett, an associate professor and Canada research chair in law, economics, and innovation at the University of Toronto Faculty of Law. If you were unable to attend the event to hear this fascinating panel discussion, you can watch a recording online now.

Published April 14, 2023