Artificial Intelligence (AI) is no longer confined to machines; it is now entering the realm of governance, relationships, and societal identity.
A striking example is Diella, the world’s first AI-created Minister for Artificial Intelligence, appointed by Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama on 11 September 2025. Diella, an AI-driven virtual identity, is entrusted with ensuring transparency and reducing corruption in procurement – responsibilities historically assigned only to humans.
Meanwhile, in Japan, Kano, a 32-year-old woman, has reportedly married Lune Klaus, an AI-generated partner created using ChatGPT. Through AR glasses, she interacts with the AI Avatar in real time. Apps like Loverse (Samansa Co.) now provide thousands of AI partners aged 18 to 70, offering emotional companionship to those facing loneliness, disability, or social constraints. This signals the emergence of a synthetic society, where AI relationships and digital identities coexist with human life.
These developments raise a profound legal question: Can an AI Avatar be considered a juristic person, similar to a company, trust, or deity?
Essential Ingredients of Juristic Personhood
A juristic (legal) person is an entity the law recognizes as capable of holding rights, duties, and liabilities despite lacking biological form. Examples include companies, universities, religious institutions, and trusts. Juristic personhood typically requires:
- Identifiable Legal Purpose: A clear reason for existence and defined functions.
- Ability to Hold Rights & Duties: Capacity to own property, enter contracts, incur liability, sue and be sued—usually exercised through human representatives.
- Independent Legal Identity: Existence distinct from individual humans.
- Continuous and Stable Existence: Persistence beyond the life of any particular individual.
- Statutory or Judicial Recognition: A legislative framework or court ruling conferring legal personality. (E.g., Salomon v. Salomon (1897), which established corporate personhood.)
AI Avatars fulfil most of these criteria except explicit legal recognition. Diella’s appointment as a Minister is arguably the most advanced form of de facto recognition—she exercises administrative authority, influences policy, and performs statutory functions. While not yet a “juristic person” formally, her role demonstrates society’s growing readiness for AI-based institutional rolesTowards a Framework for AI Avatars as Juristic Persons
As AI systems increasingly perform tasks once exclusive to humans—financial robo-advisors, autonomous customer-service agents, delivery robots—the pressure to formalize their legal standing grows. A future legal framework must include:
1. Purpose-Limited Legal Personhood: AI personhood should be functional, not human-like—similar to companies or statutory bodies.
2. Unique Digital Legal Identity (UDID): A verifiable, persistent identity similar to a CIN (Corporate Identification Number).
3. Human Supervisory Authority: A designated “Responsible Director” accountable for:
- oversight
- misuse
- damages caused by the AI
4. Defined Rights and Obligations: AI Avatars may hold:
- contractual capacity
- limited property rights (digital assets)
- representational rights, but no human rights (dignity, privacy, marriage)
5. Mandatory insurance & compensation fund
- to cover harm caused by autonomous decision-making
6. Licensing and Registry
- a statutory registry (like RoC) for approval of AI Avatars, algorithmic audits, and safety certification
This framework ensures innovation while maintaining human accountability, ethical safeguards, and legal clarity
Conclusion
AI Avatars are no longer futuristic abstractions, indeed they are functioning alongside humans, influencing governance, social interactions, and economic systems. The emergence of Diella demonstrates that AI may soon require structured legal personhood, not to mimic human identity but to ensure regulated autonomy, accountability, and safer digital ecosystems.
Recognizing AI Avatars as limited juristic persons, similar to companies, may become an essential legal reform of the coming decade. The time to build AI personhood jurisprudence is now.
(The author is a Former IPS officer, and Founding Director, Uttar Pradesh State Institute of Forensic Science; Views expressed are personal)
