As Malta navigates the challenges of artificial intelligence, law student Martina Galea from the University of Malta offers a compelling viewpoint through her winning entry in the SiGMA Essay Competition. Her essay focused on artificial intelligence and criminal responsibility. This topic is becoming a growing area of concern in the gaming and digital industries, both of which are on the rise.
Galea, who interns at BDO Malta, was a guest on the Decoding Gaming Law podcast, where she discusses her article with Dr. Franklin Cachia. Her article touches on the competing tensions of new emerging innovations and preserving accountability, as well as basic tenets of ethics. Galea highlights concrete measures for governance in the use of AI.
Ethical review boards for AI
One of the key recommendations from Galea’s essay is the establishment of an AI Ethical Review Board. Inspired by an article from a SiGMA Magazine, she sees the board as a formal oversight mechanism. Companies and operators who intend to launch AI would present proposals outlining what the AI is intended to do. The board will look at these reports, establish benchmarks for acceptable behaviour of AI, and establish minimum standards for things related and not related to compliance.
“The board could operate almost like a licensing regime,” Cachia explains. “This would ensure operators would maintain a consistent standard no matter how they apply the AI, reducing the risk of misuse.” Dr. Cachia adds that this type of supervision is in line with the broad attempts to implement some rules and checks and balances for emerging technology.
Liability and criminal responsibility
Galea firmly rejects the notion of AI personhood. She argues that AI cannot form intent, making it incapable of criminal responsibility. Instead, liability should rest with human operators who supervise AI systems, particularly in situations where risks are foreseeable.
“In practice, it’s the people handling AI and its data who must ensure it operates correctly,” Galea states. She emphasises the importance of dual control and layered supervision, especially in high-risk scenarios such as financial transactions or gaming operations.
AI as support
A consistent point in Galea’s article is her differentiation of assistive and autonomous AI. She supports the idea of AI existing as a tool to assist people in making decisions instead of executing a decision alone in sensitive areas.
As an example, AI could flag suspicious activity, allowing a data analyst to check on the reported action, rather than the AI suspending an account due to suspicion. This minimizes mistakes and protects users because a human still moderates the decision, and thus, the AI only supports people.
Practical advice for operators to consider
Galea provides actionable advice to a Maltese audience of operators who are utilizing AI. She advocates that operators utilize AI as a support instrument, conduct thorough risk assessments, and implement a code of ethics that conforms to the EU’s AI Act – and by doing so, operators will be able to reap the rewards of AI and diminish operational, legal, and reputational risks.
She also speaks to counterarguments that people often suggest. People will argue that commercial concepts, like having an ethics board, may slow innovation or time to market. Galea offers up this analogy – “ it’s better to have a well-baked cake and then layer over it another well-baked cake, rather than having it half-baked. ” To benefit from this, Galea makes a point for the need for slow, pragmatic implementation in high-risk environments.
Shaping the future of AI law
Martina Galea said that regulatory regimes can develop in parallel to technology. Malta’s operators should focus on ethical oversight, human accountability, and assistive applications to facilitate the safe use of AI, and do so while keeping innovation central to the process.
Galea’s winning essay earned her a ticket to SiGMA Malta and an all-expenses-paid trip to SiGMA Europe Central, where she will participate in a panel discussion in Rome. Her work highlights the growing role of young legal professionals in shaping the regulatory future of AI in gaming and beyond.
Visit the SiGMA website for more information.
