ABSTRACT
This chapter examines how computer-program-based entities are taking part in discourse, considers court decisions that contribute to how artificially intelligent expressions can be legally understood, and explores several potential approaches for how courts can conceptualize the rights of intelligent communicators. Artificially intelligent speakers are not only producing information, they are influencing which information individuals encounter and are being programmed to very specifically engage with certain individuals based on the information they post in virtual spaces. The prospective nature of legal questions that surround artificially intelligent communicators pose several problems, foremost among them is setting boundaries under which operational understandings of such entities can be constructed. The cases both dealt with search algorithms, which are relatively limited forms of computer-based speech, and neither instance directly examined the rights of artificially intelligent communicators. The rights of real-world artificially intelligent speakers might ultimately be understood differently because more harm can be done when such communicators take part in real-world, rather than simulated, discourse.
