Argentine President Javier Milei generated massive waves in tech and legal circles after pitching a revolutionary congressional bill to legalize “non-human corporations” (Sociedades Automatizadas) run entirely by AI agents or robots. However, market intelligence and detailed legal analysis of the draft reveal that despite the bold marketing, these fully automated companies will still legally require a human behind the curtain to function in a regulated economy.
The legislative proposal, drafted by Milei alongside Deregulation Minister Federico Sturzenegger, aims to replace the nation’s 1972 corporate law. The strategy relies on three aggressive pillars: keeping AI entirely free of regulation, creating the autonomous corporate category, and establishing a low corporate tax rate to attract global tech giants. Milei framed the reform as the natural successor to the limited liability structures pioneered by the Dutch East India Company in 1602. Yet, corporate attorneys and governance experts point out that the reality is far less sci-fi; the bill includes a strict legal “human floor” that mandates a human administrator or legal representative to oversee operations, sign binding agreements, and remain personally answerable for compliance, anti-money-laundering rules, and structural debts.
The ambitious plan has drawn sharp global criticism, notably from prominent historian Yuval Noah Harari. He published a pointed rebuttal warning that granting legal personhood to non-human entities creates a dangerous accountability gap, effectively giving rise to “programmed impunity” where corporate law fails to deter machine algorithms from causing real-world economic or social harm. While critics claim that traditional deterrents like prosecution mean nothing to a piece of software, Milei has countered that defining these autonomous structures actually makes them easier to manage than unregulated AI operating in the shadows. As international bodies move toward tightening AI oversight, Argentina’s proposal is a high-stakes wager to turn Buenos Aires into the primary jurisdiction for autonomous tech—even if a human must ultimately stand between the algorithm and the legal consequence.
