Skip to main content

LUP Student Papers

LUND UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES

Due diligence och artificiell intelligens - En probleminventering med särskilt fokus på ansvar

Wargenbrant, Ellinor LU (2018) JURM02 20182
Department of Law
Faculty of Law
Abstract
Before an acquisition of a company is carried out, a thorough inspection of the target company should be performed. The process is usually called due diligence and is commonly performed by associates on business law firms. The purpose of a due diligence is to make sure that the buyer acquires sufficient knowledge of the purchase object in order to divide the risks between the buyer and the seller in the transfer agreement. The legal aspect of doing a due diligence has its origin in Section 20 in the Swedish Sales of Goods Act, which stipulates that the buyer cannot claim errors which the buyer must be deemed to have known at the time of purchase. This means that a buyer may not refer to any discrepancies that have been identified or which... (More)
Before an acquisition of a company is carried out, a thorough inspection of the target company should be performed. The process is usually called due diligence and is commonly performed by associates on business law firms. The purpose of a due diligence is to make sure that the buyer acquires sufficient knowledge of the purchase object in order to divide the risks between the buyer and the seller in the transfer agreement. The legal aspect of doing a due diligence has its origin in Section 20 in the Swedish Sales of Goods Act, which stipulates that the buyer cannot claim errors which the buyer must be deemed to have known at the time of purchase. This means that a buyer may not refer to any discrepancies that have been identified or which should have been identified during an inspection. A transaction process is divided into three phases where a due diligence is usually conducted in the second one, which is called the transaction phase.

Artificial intelligence can be used to automate processes that historically have demanded human interaction. The due diligence process is one of many activities that can be done more efficiently using artificial intelligence. Since the work is largely repetitive and follows the same pattern, artificial intelligence in the form of machine learning, deep learning and language technology can be used to facilitate the work for associates. The purpose of this thesis is to investigate how the due diligence process is affected by the fact that an AI tool instead of humans performs the work. Furthermore, the purpose is to investigate how the relations between the law firm, client and AI supplier are affected by the automated process. Particular attention is going to be paid to the question of responsibility, i.e. how the responsibility is divided between the three parties concerned. The majority of the thesis will address the right for the law firm and the client to receive compensation if the AI tool, due to the lack of knowledge, overlook information that leads to economic damage.

The thesis will primarily be based on available standard agreements between, on the one hand, law firm and client and, on the other hand, between law firm and AI supplier. With the help of legal science, an interdisciplinary as well as a legal analysis method, the initial questions are going to be investigated. As the material is limited due to confidentiality, the known legal situation after the investigation is still unclear. Based on a client perspective, clarifications from law firms regarding their responsibility in the use of AI to perform due diligence would be desirable. The Swedish Bar Association should also review the disclaimers that are applied so that they do not violate generally accepted legal practice. (Less)
Popular Abstract (Swedish)
Innan ett företagsförvärv genomförs bör en noggrann företagsbesiktning av det aktuella målbolaget utföras. Processen brukar benämnas due diligence och den utförs vanligen av biträdande jurister på affärsjuridiska byråer. Syftet med en due diligence är att köparen ska få tillräcklig kunskap om köpeobjektet så att risker kan fördelas mellan köpare och säljare i överlåtelseavtalet. Den juridiska aspekten av att göra en due diligence kan härledas från 20 § KöpL där det stadgas att köparen inte får åberopa fel som han måste antas ha känt till vid köpet. Det innebär att en köpare inte får hänvisa till avvikelser som har framkommit eller som borde ha uppmärksammats vid en besiktning. En transaktionsprocess är indelad i tre faser där en due... (More)
Innan ett företagsförvärv genomförs bör en noggrann företagsbesiktning av det aktuella målbolaget utföras. Processen brukar benämnas due diligence och den utförs vanligen av biträdande jurister på affärsjuridiska byråer. Syftet med en due diligence är att köparen ska få tillräcklig kunskap om köpeobjektet så att risker kan fördelas mellan köpare och säljare i överlåtelseavtalet. Den juridiska aspekten av att göra en due diligence kan härledas från 20 § KöpL där det stadgas att köparen inte får åberopa fel som han måste antas ha känt till vid köpet. Det innebär att en köpare inte får hänvisa till avvikelser som har framkommit eller som borde ha uppmärksammats vid en besiktning. En transaktionsprocess är indelad i tre faser där en due diligence vanligtvis utförs under den andra, som benämns transaktionsfasen.

Artificiell intelligens kan användas för att automatisera processer som historiskt sett krävt mänsklig interaktion. Ett händelseförlopp som kan effektiviseras med hjälp av artificiell intelligens är just due diligence-processen. Eftersom arbetet till stor del är repetitivt och följer samma mönster kan artificiell intelligens i form av maskininlärning, djupinlärning och språkteknologi användas för att underlätta arbetet för biträdande jurister. Syftet med denna uppsats är att undersöka hur due diligence-processen påverkas av att ett AI-verktyg utför arbetet istället för människor. Vidare är syftet att utreda hur relationerna mellan advokatbyrå, klient och AI-leverantör påverkas. Särskilt fokus kommer att läggas på ansvarsfrågan, alltså hur ansvaret fördelas mellan de tre berörda parterna. Största delen av uppsatsen kommer att behandla advokatbyråns och klientens respektive möjlighet att få ersättning om AI-verktyget på grund av bristande kunskap förbiser information som leder till ekonomisk skada.

Utgångspunkt för uppsatsen kommer att tas i tillgängliga standardavtal mellan å ena sidan advokatbyrå och klient och å andra sidan mellan advokatbyrå och AI-leverantör. Med hjälp av rättsdogmatiken, en tvärvetenskaplig såväl som en rättsanalytisk metod kommer de initialt ställda frågorna att utredas. Eftersom materialet är begränsat på grund av sekretessbestämmelser är det kända rättsläget efter utredningen fortfarande oklart. Utifrån ett klientperspektiv skulle klargöranden från advokatbyråerna kring deras ansvar vid användningen av AI för att utföra due diligence-arbete vara önskvärt. Advokatsamfundet bör även se över de friskrivningar som tillämpas så att de inte strider mot god advokatsed. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
Wargenbrant, Ellinor LU
supervisor
organization
alternative title
Due diligence and artificial intelligence - A problem inventory with particular focus on responsibility
course
JURM02 20182
year
type
H3 - Professional qualifications (4 Years - )
subject
keywords
Förmögenhetsrätt, Avtalsrätt, IT-rätt, Artificiell intelligens, Due diligence
language
Swedish
id
8967922
date added to LUP
2019-01-30 17:08:04
date last changed
2019-01-31 10:33:32
@misc{8967922,
  abstract     = {{Before an acquisition of a company is carried out, a thorough inspection of the target company should be performed. The process is usually called due diligence and is commonly performed by associates on business law firms. The purpose of a due diligence is to make sure that the buyer acquires sufficient knowledge of the purchase object in order to divide the risks between the buyer and the seller in the transfer agreement. The legal aspect of doing a due diligence has its origin in Section 20 in the Swedish Sales of Goods Act, which stipulates that the buyer cannot claim errors which the buyer must be deemed to have known at the time of purchase. This means that a buyer may not refer to any discrepancies that have been identified or which should have been identified during an inspection. A transaction process is divided into three phases where a due diligence is usually conducted in the second one, which is called the transaction phase.

Artificial intelligence can be used to automate processes that historically have demanded human interaction. The due diligence process is one of many activities that can be done more efficiently using artificial intelligence. Since the work is largely repetitive and follows the same pattern, artificial intelligence in the form of machine learning, deep learning and language technology can be used to facilitate the work for associates. The purpose of this thesis is to investigate how the due diligence process is affected by the fact that an AI tool instead of humans performs the work. Furthermore, the purpose is to investigate how the relations between the law firm, client and AI supplier are affected by the automated process. Particular attention is going to be paid to the question of responsibility, i.e. how the responsibility is divided between the three parties concerned. The majority of the thesis will address the right for the law firm and the client to receive compensation if the AI tool, due to the lack of knowledge, overlook information that leads to economic damage.

The thesis will primarily be based on available standard agreements between, on the one hand, law firm and client and, on the other hand, between law firm and AI supplier. With the help of legal science, an interdisciplinary as well as a legal analysis method, the initial questions are going to be investigated. As the material is limited due to confidentiality, the known legal situation after the investigation is still unclear. Based on a client perspective, clarifications from law firms regarding their responsibility in the use of AI to perform due diligence would be desirable. The Swedish Bar Association should also review the disclaimers that are applied so that they do not violate generally accepted legal practice.}},
  author       = {{Wargenbrant, Ellinor}},
  language     = {{swe}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{Due diligence och artificiell intelligens - En probleminventering med särskilt fokus på ansvar}},
  year         = {{2018}},
}