Human-like cyborgs have been existing in Hollywood movies for decades, but with each passing day, they are becoming a reality with which we will have to learn to coexist in future.

Source: WION

India’s Defence Research and Development Organization (DRDO) is also interested in cyborgs. Recently, it developed “rat cyborgs” to help security forces in recovery operations, surveillance and intelligence gathering.

Healthcare/Medical Devices

• Develop medical devices and implants.
  • Artificial organs – Heart, kidney, lungs, cochlea, etc.
  • Bionics – Vision, ear, orthopedic, cardiac, etc.
• Increase capabilities of healthcare professionals.
• Provide greater resistance to certain types of infections and diseases.

Military and Defense

• Augment abilities of human soldiers.
• Enhancing lives of wounded veterans.
• Quicker and direct transfer of military commands.
• Develop cyborg warriors for specialized missions.
• Provide a helping hand to support staff.

Space Exploration

• Provide capabilities to survive in adverse environment of outer space.
• Allow habitation of life on other planets.

Sports and Athletics

• Enable disabled athletes to compete in sports.
• Fasten recovery of injured athletes.

Assisted Living

• Increase mobility and quality of life of older people.
• Give complementary abilities to incapacitated patients.
• Significantly improve monitoring of vitals and speed up response to adverse events.

Agriculture

• Monitor plant health and environmental conditions.
• Increase pollination and crop yield.
• Support repetitive tasks such as weed picking.
• Enable organic farming.

Manufacturing

• Enhance skills and efficiency of human labor.
• Improve shop floor control.

• Cyborgs involve augmentation of human bodies. So, the underlying technologies are likely to be classified as medical devices under Drugs and Cosmetics Act in India and subject to clinical trials prior to their public uses. That would involve:
  • Compliance with general informed consent requirements to enable patients to make informed decisions.
  • Informed Consent & Disclosure requirements by the entity conducting clinical trials.
  • Mechanism for reporting adverse reactions on application of new technologies on trial subjects.

Liability

• Just like any other technologies, cyborgs are likely to malfunction.
• Liability and compensation in case of accidents by robots and cyborgs fall in the grey areas in law and need special legal treatment.
• Stakeholders for potential liability would include healthcare providers, technology manufacturers, owner of the cyborg, or all of them. Their roles and responsibilities would have to be clearly documented in the risk disclosures and future laws.
• Another aspect to consider is medical malpractice of using cyborg technologies when they are not needed.

Data Privacy

• Cyborgs may process vast amounts of personal data (including health data). It will be important to determine at which point “processing” of personal data commences.
• Cyborg technologies may lead to data mining and data exploitation.
• Consent requirements to include the scope of processing personal data by Cyborgs and data sharing and ownership aspects.
• Cyborgs can lead to mass surveillance which may pose privacy concerns.
• In India, Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 (DPDPA) regulates the operations performed on digital personal data including collection, recording, organization, structuring, notice and consent requirements, safeguarding of personal data, cross-border transfer restrictions, etc.

Cybersecurity

• Cyborg technologies could be vulnerable to cyberattacks.
• Laws related to cybersecurity and data breaches may need to be adapted to cover these new risks.
• The Indian cyber security laws prescribe certain category of cybersecurity incidents which must be mandatorily reported within a prescribed timeline.

Tax

• As of now, no law in India recognizes artificially intelligent entities to be ‘persons’. Hence, it is not clear in whose hands such income will be taxed. It may be argued that the income which is earned by the Cyborg should be taxed in the hands of the programmer / user who eventually realizes that income.
• Permanent Establishment (PE) Considerations
  • Generally, a PE is constituted in India if a non-resident carries on business in India either through a fixed place of business or through employees / dependent agents (carrying on certain activities on behalf of the non-resident).
  • When a non-resident provides services in India through the use of Cyborgs, robots or automated systems situated in India, questions may arise as to whether it would constitute a PE for the non-resident in India.
  • Further, even if the Cyborg is not situated in India, it may constitute a PE in India if the internet connectivity of the robot is directly linked to a server located in India.
  • In case of the latter, the discussions around whether servers/ websites constitute a PE become relevant.
  • Since the jurisprudence on this issue is still evolving, activities which may constitute a PE (in similar circumstances as mentioned above) is still not very clear.

Intellectual Property

• Need to address issues related to the intellectual property rights of the technology creators and the rights of individuals who have cyborg enhancements.
• When a cyborg produces a piece of “work” (literary, dramatic, musical, artistic, cinematographic film, sound recording etc.), patent or other intellectual property, it is unclear who will be the author and owner of such work under the Indian Copyright Act, 1957. From an Indian copyright law perspective, machines may not be recognized as authors hence ownership.

Identity and Legal Personhood

• The blurring of the line between human and machine may lead to legal questions about a person's identity and legal status. For example, who is legally responsible when a cyborg commits a crime.

Ethical and Societal Implications

• Ethical concerns surrounding cyborgs include questions of identity, discrimination, and societal acceptance.
• Another important concern is military applications. Internationally accepted norms need to be developed and endorsed by treaties to restrict certain military applications of cyborgs.

End-of-Life Decisions

• Legal frameworks may need to clarify the rights and choices of cyborg individuals regarding the deactivation or removal of technological components at the end of life.

Human and Animal Rights

• Cyborgs may face unique human and animal rights challenges.
  • Human rights: the right to bodily autonomy, non-discrimination, and freedom from coercion.
  • Animal rights: experimentation in R&D, freedom from torture, avoiding suffering,