Reconstructing Criminal Liability for AI-Based Crimes in Indonesian Criminal Law: Rethinking Actus Reus, Mens Rea, and Culpability Attribution
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The development of Artificial Intelligence (AI) has transformed the nature and modalities of criminal conduct, including deepfakes, impersonation, digital fraud, information manipulation, and various forms of automated cybercrime. These developments present fundamental challenges to Indonesian criminal law, particularly in establishing the relationship between conduct, culpability, and criminal liability when AI functions as an instrument or intermediary in the commission of an offense. This study aims to examine the limitations of the concepts of actus reus, mens rea, and attribution of culpability in addressing AI-based crimes and to formulate a more adaptive framework of criminal liability in response to technological developments. This study employs a normative juridical method using statutory, conceptual, and comparative approaches. The findings indicate that a criminal liability framework centered primarily on human conduct and culpability encounters an attribution gap when AI systems operate with a high degree of automation. Accordingly, a reconstruction of criminal liability is required through parameters of control, knowledge, contribution, foreseeability, and the degree of culpability of actors within the AI ecosystem. Such reconstruction is essential to ensure legal certainty while preventing an accountability gap in addressing AI-based crimes.
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