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Human Enhancement Law

Technologically enhanced human in private law

[Translate to English:] headline

Body, subjectivity, responsibility

Website of a research project funded by the National Science Centre under the OPUS 29 call (grant no. 2025/57/B/HS5/00102)

What happens to private law in a world in which the human being is no longer exclusively biological? This research project addresses one of the most transformative challenges in contemporary legal scholarship: how to regulate the situation of individuals whose bodies and minds have been permanently integrated with technology.

The dynamic development of neurotechnology, artificial intelligence, and biotechnology means that an increasing number of people function with implants, brain–computer interfaces, or advanced prosthetics. This phenomenon, often described as cyborgization, gives rise to new forms of existence: entities that are no longer purely biological, yet not fully artificial. Meanwhile, traditional private law continues to rely on a simple dichotomy: person or thing. In a world of technologically enhanced humans, this distinction is no longer sufficient.

The aim of the project is to develop a new, coherent regulatory model within European civil law that enables the protection of technologically enhanced individuals without undermining the fundamental values of private law: human dignity, individual autonomy, and bodily integrity. The research focuses, inter alia, on whether technologies permanently integrated with the human organism should be treated as part of the body, how the notion of civil liability evolves in situations of human–AI interaction, and whether new categories of legal subjectivity are required.

The project will result in a comprehensive model of the “cyborg body” in private law, as well as a concept of hybrid legal subjectivity tailored to individuals operating within a reality of technological augmentation. It responds to a real and pressing need to develop legal frameworks for a world that already exists: one in which technology is no longer an external tool, but an integral part of the human being.

Project objectives

The project aims to conduct a comprehensive and systematic analysis of the challenges to private law arising from the technological enhancement of humans, commonly referred to as “cyborgization.” Its primary objective is to critically assess the adequacy of existing continental (civil law) doctrines in addressing the legal consequences of integrating artificial elements with the human body, and to propose the necessary doctrinal developments.

The project focuses in particular on issues concerning the legal status of the technologically modified human body, the legal subjectivity of technologically enhanced individuals, and civil liability arising from the integration of humans and technology. The research is doctrinal and analytical in nature, grounded in the tradition of continental civil law, while also incorporating comparative and interdisciplinary perspectives.

[Translate to English:] BOOK
Main research areas

Legal status of the technologically modified human body

Legal subjectivity of technologically enhanced individuals

Civil liability in cases of human–technology integration

Ownership and transferability of integrated technologies

Consent and individual autonomy in the context of technological enhancement

Publications and events

  • Księżak, P. (2024). Artificial Intelligence and the Dawn of Cyborg Law. Key Legal Challenges for Private Law in the Era of Human Augmentation. Warszawa: Allerhand Publishing
  • Księżak, P., & Wojtczak, S. (2023). Toward a Conceptual Network for the Private Law of Artificial Intelligence. Cham: Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-19447-4
  • Kulesza, J. (2025). Privacy and Data Protection. In R. Balleste et al. (eds.), A Research Agenda for Cybersecurity Law and Policy. Edward Elgar. https://doi.org/10.4337/9781803929194.00014
  • Księżak, P., & Wojtczak, S. (2022). A Human Being Must Obey the Commands of a Robot! CAVs, Asimov’s Second Law and the New Ground-Breaking Ethics. In T. Guarda et al. (eds.), Advanced Research in Technologies, Information, Innovation and Sustainability. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-20316-9_29
  • Księżak, P. (2017). Zdolność prawna sztucznej inteligencji (AI). In W. Robaczyński (ed.), Czynić postęp w prawie. Łódź: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Łódzkiego
  • Kulesza, J. (2014). Human Enhancing Technologies and Individual Privacy Right. In S. J. Thompson (ed.), Global Issues and Ethical Considerations in Human Enhancement Technologies. IGI Global. https://doi.org/10.4018/978-1-4666-6010-6.ch009
  • Wojtczak, S., & Księżak, P. (2026). The Influence of Cognitive Context on Legal Linguistic Interpretation. International Journal for the Semiotics of Law, 39(1), 225–237. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11196-025-10291-y
  • Kulesza, J. (2025). Europe’s Regulatory Sovereignty in the Age of Artificial Intelligence. Sprawy Międzynarodowe, 78(4), 167–190. https://doi.org/10.35757/sm.2025.78.4.07
  • Wojtczak, S. (2021). Endowing Artificial Intelligence with Legal Subjectivity. AI & Society, 37(1), 205–213. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00146-021-01147-7
  • Wojtczak, S., & Księżak, P. (2021). Causation in Civil Law and the Problems of Transparency in AI. European Review of Private Law, 29(4), 561–582
  • Wojtczak, S., & Księżak, P. (2021). Prawo autorskie wobec sztucznej inteligencji (próba alternatywnego spojrzenia). Państwo i Prawo, 76(2)
  • Księżak, P., & Wojtczak, S. (2020). AI versus robot: in search of a domain for the new European civil law. Law, Innovation and Technology, 12(2), 297–317. https://doi.org/10.1080/17579961.2020.1815404
  • Księżak, P., & Wojtczak, S. (2020). Prawa Asimova, czyli science fiction jako fundament nowego prawa cywilnego. Forum Prawnicze, 4. https://doi.org/10.32082/fp.v0i4(60).378
  • Księżak, P. (2024). Prawo cyborgów (7). Probabilistyczna ontologia prawa. Głos Prawa, 7
  • Księżak, P. (2024). Prawo cyborgów (6). Neuroprawa w kontekście technologicznego wsparcia umysłu. Głos Prawa, 7
  • Księżak, P. (2023). Prawo cyborgów (5). Kilka uwag o „The Cyborg Bill of Rights v 1.0”. Głos Prawa, 6
  • Księżak, P. (2023). Prawo cyborgów (4). Podmiotowość i uczestniczenie w obrocie. Głos Prawa, 6
  • Księżak, P. (2022). Prawo cyborgów (3). Rozmowa ze sztuczną inteligencją o prawie cyborgów. Głos Prawa, 5
  • Księżak, P. (2022). Prawo cyborgów (2). Własność i dobra osobiste. Głos Prawa, 5
  • Księżak, P. (2021). Prawo cyborgów (1). Wprowadzenie w problematykę. Głos Prawa, 4

Project team

Paweł Księżak
Paweł Księżak
Principal Investigator
 

Department of Civil Law

Professor of civil law. Research interests: private law in the context of artificial intelligence, robotics, transhumanism, and cyborgs; inheritance law.

Sylwia Wojtczak
Sylwia Wojtczak
Researcher
 

Head of the Department of Legal Policy, Faculty of Law and Administration, University of Łódź

Professor in the field of legal theory and jurisprudence; conducts research and leads the academic and organizational activities of the Department of Legal Policy.

Joanna Kulesza
Joanna Kulesza
Researcher
 

Department of Public International Law and International Relations, Faculty of Law and Administration, University of Łódź

Specializes in public international law and human rights law, with a particular focus on state responsibility for actions in cyberspace and algorithmic accountability in the context of artificial intelligence.

Faculty of Law and Administration
Kopcinskiego 8/12, room 3.61
90-232 Lodz, Poland

lch@wpia.uni.lodz.pl 
+48 42 635 63 78

Funduszepleu
Projekt Multiportalu UŁ współfinansowany z funduszy Unii Europejskiej w ramach konkursu NCBR