BRUSSELS — The European Commission on Thursday published its long-awaited AI liability directive, a companion to the AI Act that would lower the burden of proof for citizens seeking damages from harms caused by high-risk artificial-intelligence systems.
The draft introduces a rebuttable presumption of causality: where a claimant can show a provider failed to comply with the AI Act’s obligations, courts would presume the system caused the harm unless the provider proves otherwise. Industry groups called the provision “a litigation engine”; consumer groups called it “the point.”
The directive matters well beyond Europe. Indian IT services firms, which build and maintain AI systems for European clients, are already mapping the exposure. “Every contract we sign in the EU will now carry this in the background,” said the general counsel of one large Bengaluru-based firm. “Liability follows the value chain.”
