JOINT AND SEVERAL LIABILITY IN THE ALGORITHMIC CHAIN: A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF DIRECTIVE 2024/2853 AND THE AI ACT (REGULATION 2024/1689) AND CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE BRAZILIAN REGULATORY FRAMEWORK

Abstract

This article examines whether passive joint and several liability within the suppliers’ chain, under a consumer-protection logic, remains applicable when the defective product is an artificial intelligence system. The algorithmic chain poses three structural challenges absent from industrial chains: causal opacity, technical stratification into interdependent layers, and autonomous post-deployment behavioral evolution. Using the comparative method, the article analyzes the European instruments that seek to provide legal support on the issue—Directive (EU) 2024/2853 on liability for defective products and Regulation (EU) 2024/1689 (the AI Act). It concludes that joint and several liability exists within the European model but operates in a conditioned, graduated, and doubly instrumentalized manner: Directive 2024/2853 establishes horizontal joint and several liability among all responsible economic operators; the AI Act distributes compliance obligations vertically according to risk level and functional control, guiding the internal allocation of risk among co-obligors. The findings offer lessons for the development of Brazil’s AI regulatory framework.