Article 4

Article 4(1) of Portuguese Decree-Law 383/89 establishes that 'a product is defective when it does not provide the safety that may legitimately be expected, taking all circumstances into account, in particular its presentation, the use that may reasonably be made of it, and the time when it was put into circulation'. The definition is functional and normative: it does not ask whether the product deviated from the manufacturer's specifications, but rather whether the safety is what a legitimate user could expect. Emergent Goals problematises this definition in light of AI systems whose behaviour emerges from training and whose 'legitimately expected' safety is ontologically debatable.