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ARTICLE · 24 FEBRUARY 2026

How Will Courts Address Potential Liability Against AI Companies?

Barnes & Thornburg LLP
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With the proliferation of artificial intelligence tools, there are competing views of how, or even if, liability standards should apply to these technologies.

United StatesTechnology
Kaitlyn E. Stone
Kaitlyn E. Stone
William M. Carlucci
William M. Carlucci
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Highlights

  • With the proliferation of artificial intelligence tools, there are competing views of how, or even if, liability standards should apply to these technologies.
  • Lawsuits and proposed federal legislation are seeking to set guardrails on AI technologies by holding developers liable for certain outputs.
  • Tracking how these legal developments progress will be informative for the future of AI development. 

Courts and regulators have been grappling with how, and whether, to apply standards of liability to artificial intelligence tools. Two examples have emerged in recent months. The first, a lawsuit filed alleging harm from deepfake images — St. Clair v. X.AI Holdings Corp, 1:26-cv-00386 (S.D.N.Y.). The second, a bill proposed in the Senate, seeks to adopt product liability standards to the context of AI tools. How the court and the Senate approach these developments will be instructive on potential lawsuits around AI. 

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