Botkin Chiarello Calaf’s Ryan Botkin was an expert source for The Texas Lawbook on the future of litigation for companies victimized by rogue artificial intelligence (AI).

In “Texas Lawyers Foresee AI Litigation Boom” (subscription only), Texas Lawbook spoke with several attorneys predicting a deluge of defective product lawsuits against developers when their AI agents carelessly or knowingly cause harm. The pressing question is whether the U.S. tort system is ready to take on technically and factually complicated claims tied to AI systems. Ryan says that current law isn’t up to the task.

“I am not confident that existing tort law can handle the complexities of this technology,” Ryan told Texas Lawbook. “Remember, current tort law was developed when people worried about others stealing their cattle and runaway street cars.”

He and the other attorneys who spoke with the state’s largest independent legal publication all agree that if AI systems end up killing everyone, the tort system won’t be much help.

“If AI causes an extinction-level event, the tort system and the courts are not going to be very helpful,” Ryan said.