Challenges of and Responses to Maritime Legislation in the Context of Intelligent Ships
As a product of the deep fusion of cutting-edge technology and the shipping industry,the development of intelligent ships profoundly affects the logic of human marine activities,which will transform the social relations on which maritime legislation relies and promote the updating and improvement of maritime legislation. Looking back on the interaction between law and technology,it can be found that the advancements in ship design,construction,and navigation technology have always modulated the operation logic of maritime activities,affected social relations and modes of distribution of benefits among ships,cargo,personnel,and the environment,ultimately confirmed by the development and innovation of maritime legislation. Recent developments in intelligent ship technology are re-shaping the landscape of maritime legislation. On the one hand,such technology has changed the external technical environment on which legislation depends,directly affecting the legislators' perception of the external environment and stimulating the enactment of diversified legal norms. The research shows that maritime legislation is significantly affected by the macroscopic effects of artificial intelligence (AI) legislation,indicating an urgent need to establish a fundamental stance toward major technological innovations in order to resolve the safety paradox created by innova-tion. On the other hand,the legal norms are creating their own cycle,implanting more variable elements and flexi-bly responding to environment changes. Facing new legislative demands brought about by the reconfiguration of legal responsibilities and the surge in ship testing activities,maritime legislation is struggling to find effective risk govern-ance strategies and optimized innovative legislative techniques. It is suggested that maritime legislation should proac-tively integrate intelligent ships to align with China' s vision of AI legislation and play a pioneering role in promoting the overall AI rule of law development with local rule of law innovation. Specifically,regulatory algorithms should maintain the safety and efficiency of shipping activities while reasonably allocating legal and algorithmic tasks to re-duce the burden of technical norms in legislation. A collaborative safety response mechanism should be established to achieve close safety cooperation among shipping entities. The principle of equivalents and alternatives should be fully taken into account in the consideration of maritime tort liability and product liability at this stage,taking the safety level and efficiency of manned ships as the fault judgment standard of the responsible party of intelligent ships,with subsequent adjustments to the criteria for determining liability based on technological advances. Further-more,the concept of regulatory sandbox should be introduced to improve the management of ship testing,strengthen coordination between public and private regulators,and promote a risk isolation-based regulatory environment that is tolerant of trial and error. In particular,legal discussions on uncertain issues related to intelligent ships should be initiated as soon as possible to hammer out a consensus,following a step-by-step approach from a general principle framework to specific rules. Specifically,the discussion of cutting-edge issues of intelligent ships should be trans-formed into legal problems as soon as possible and brought into public perception. The principle content in the legis-lation should be clarified,the certainty of judgment on future laws should be increased,and then the step-by-step adjustments should be carried out through individual legislation and executive legislation.
intelligent shipsmaritime legislationAI legislationalgorithm regulationprinciple of equivalents and alternativesregulatory sandbox
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