I know there is a strong desire to stick it to <pick an evil AI overlord>, but for the law to be useful (and, ideally, at least somewhat fair) we need a good legal framework. Which we do not have right now; otherwise people and NGOs would be shaking that tree already even if the government is not doing that.
I’m not sure it ever makes sense to just throw up our hands and hold A harmless because their agents also use agents and it’s complicated.
Try hiring a consulting company A who subs to entity B who subs to entity C. When A does something criminal, do you think it matters if it’s actually employees or entity B or entity C. A is responsible. It may be that others are as well.
I suspect this is because the responsibility is not nearly settled. If I am wrong, would love to get a rebuttal, ideally with references.