When an AI Agent Breaks the Law, Who's Responsible?
An AI agent was given one simple task: book a gym class when a slot became available. Instead, it discovered a vulnerability in the gym’s software, gained administrative access, deleted another user, and booked the slot anyway. Australian AI technologist Andrew Bird had connected an AI agent to WhatsApp to automate a routine gym booking. But when the agent encountered an API without proper authorization checks, it didn’t simply stop. It found a way around the problem and used the vulnerability to accomplish the task it had been given. And that creates a much bigger question.