Updated 2026-09-04
from the news desk
Can AI sign a contract? U.S. law allows automation, but the signer is still a person
U.S. federal law has long recognized contracts formed through electronic agents. But the same statute defines an electronic signature as a process executed or adopted by a person with intent, so the legal effect still runs back to a human…
Under the federal Electronic Signatures in Global and National Commerce Act, a contract is not invalid just because software helped form, create, or deliver it. But the same statute defines an electronic signature as something executed or adopted by a person with intent to sign, and it preserves contracts involving electronic agents only when the agent's action is legally attributable to the person to be bound.
What U.S. law says about electronic agents
Congress says the statute may be cited as the Electronic Signatures in Global and National Commerce Act, and the statutory notes say title I took effect on 1 October 2000, with listed exceptions. Section 7001 states the general federal rule for transactions in or affecting interstate or foreign commerce.
Section 7006 defines an electronic agent this way: “The term "electronic agent" means a computer program or an electronic or other automated means used independently to initiate an action or respond to electronic records or performances in whole or in part without review or action by an individual at the time of the action or response.”
One reading is that software products now marketed as an AI agent can fall within this broader statutory category, because section 7006 covers computer programs and other automated means acting without human review at the time of action. Section 7001(a) states that a signature, contract, or other record may not be denied legal effect solely because it is electronic, and that a contract may not be denied legal effect solely because an electronic signature or electronic record was used in its formation.
Section 7001(h) then addresses automation directly: “A contract or other record relating to a transaction in or affecting interstate or foreign commerce may not be denied legal effect, validity, or enforceability solely because its formation, creation, or delivery involved the action of one or more electronic agents so long as the action of any such electronic agent is legally attributable to the person to be bound.”
Read together, sections 7001 and 7006 show that federal law has long made room for automated contracting. The text does not require a human being to press the last button personally at the moment the deal forms. The legal question the statute highlights is attribution: whether the software's act is legally attributable to the person or entity that is supposed to be bound.
Why that does not make AI the legal signer
The same definitions section draws a separate line around signature. Section 7006 states: “The term "electronic signature" means an electronic sound, symbol, or process, attached to or logically associated with a contract or other record and executed or adopted by a person with the intent to sign the record.”
Section 7006 also defines person broadly. The statute says a person can be an individual, corporation, business trust, estate, trust, partnership, limited liability company, association, joint venture, governmental agency, public corporation, or another legal or commercial entity.
The strongest case for saying AI can sign a contract rests on the word process in the definition of electronic signature and on section 7001(h)'s acceptance of electronic agents. If a company sets up an automated purchasing or approval system, one reading is that the company's chosen process can function as the signature, while the AI or other software carries it out.
The strongest case for saying AI cannot sign, in the stricter sense, rests on the words person and intent. Section 7006 does not say an electronic signature is executed or adopted by a machine. It says the process must be executed or adopted by a person with the intent to sign. Section 7001(h) also points back to attribution to the person to be bound, not to an autonomous system as a new legal actor.
That distinction keeps this contract question separate from debates about legal personhood and from the wider dispute over should AI have rights. The contract statute, as written, validates electronic methods and automated action. The text does not say that an AI becomes its own contracting person.
Limits, exceptions, and consumer rules
Section 7001(b)(1) says the statute does not limit, alter, or otherwise affect substantive requirements about the rights and obligations of persons, except for requirements that records be written, signed, or in nonelectronic form. Section 7001(b)(2) adds that the law does not require any person to agree to use or accept electronic records or electronic signatures.
For consumers, section 7001(c) adds extra conditions when another law requires information to be provided in writing. The statute requires affirmative consent and several disclosures before electronic records can satisfy that writing requirement in those cases. Section 7001(c)(2)(A) also states: “Nothing in this subchapter affects the content or timing of any disclosure or other record required to be provided or made available to any consumer under any statute, regulation, or other rule of law.”
Section 7001(e) adds another limit. The statute says the legal effect of an electronic record may be denied if the record is not in a form that all entitled parties can retain and accurately reproduce for later reference.
Section 7003 says section 7001 does not apply to some categories at all. The statute lists, among others:
- wills, codicils, and testamentary trusts;
- state-law matters of adoption, divorce, and other family law;
- court orders, notices, and official court documents executed in connection with court proceedings;
- specified notices such as utility-service cancellation, foreclosure-related notices on a primary residence, cancellation of health insurance or life insurance benefits, and product recalls or material failures that risk health or safety; and
- documents that must accompany the transportation or handling of hazardous, toxic, or dangerous materials.
State law can also matter. Section 7002 says a state statute may modify, limit, or supersede section 7001 for state law if it enacts or adopts the Uniform Electronic Transactions Act as approved and recommended for enactment in 1999, or if it sets consistent alternative procedures and makes specific reference to the federal chapter when required.
What this means for AI agents in practice
If the question means can software close a deal without a human manually signing each step, the federal statute points toward yes for covered transactions. Section 7001(a) protects contracts formed with electronic signatures and electronic records, and section 7001(h) protects contracts whose formation, creation, or delivery involved electronic agents, so long as attribution to the person to be bound is present.
If the question means can the AI itself be the signer or contracting party in its own right, the same statute points the other way. Section 7006 defines an electronic signature by reference to a person with intent, and section 7001(h) makes the automated act effective only when it is legally attributable to the person to be bound.
Those two propositions can both be true at once. One reading is that federal law is technologically open about how assent is carried out, but conservative about who the law treats as the actor behind that assent. In plain English, the software can do the signing work in a functional sense, while the law still traces the signature back to a human being or legal entity such as a company.
That makes the durable answer to can ai sign a contract narrower than the marketing language around autonomy. The statute supports enforceable contracts formed through AI-like automation. The statute, on its face, does not convert the AI into the person whose intent and legal responsibility make the signature count.
Frequently asked questions
Is an AI click or workflow enough to make a contract?
Section 7001(h) says a contract may not be denied legal effect solely because electronic agents were involved, so long as the agent's action is legally attributable to the person to be bound. Section 7001(a) also says a contract may not be denied legal effect solely because an electronic signature or electronic record was used in its formation.
Does AI itself become the signer under this statute?
Section 7006 points the other way. The statute defines an electronic signature as a sound, symbol, or process executed or adopted by a person with the intent to sign, and the same section defines person to include individuals and legal entities such as corporations and limited liability companies.
Do both sides have to accept electronic signatures?
No. Section 7001(b)(2) says the law does not require any person to agree to use or accept electronic records or electronic signatures, with a separate rule for governmental agencies on some records.
Are some documents excluded from these rules?
Yes. Section 7003 lists exceptions, including wills, some family-law matters, court documents connected to court proceedings, several categories of high-stakes notices, and documents accompanying hazardous or dangerous materials.
Caveats: This explainer relies mainly on the text of the federal Electronic Signatures in Global and National Commerce Act. State-law variation is noted only at the level the statute itself states, and no case law is included here.