Experiences and Queries about Artificial Intelligence and Law

Abstract

Artificial intelligence, together with access to Big Data, has produced profound changes in the information about law, whereas it proceeds at a slower pace in the field of law framing, especially as far as law-giving and judicial decision-making are concerned. Here the role played by the human being in legal processes is still crucial. Yet, the significant experiments with “smart” legal rules that are now on the close horizon raise concerns about what may become the shape of the law in our not-so-far future. Some questions are still open. How far can algorithms go into the intricacies of the countless logical, ethical, psychological and sociological variables that intervene in legal reasoning at all levels? How much space will remain for human intervention in the framing and enforcement of legal rules, whether “general” or “individual”? Will the overwhelming power of technology impose a kind of over-simplified law, made of mere signals rather than signs and symbols, which will minimalize or annul them? In that case, what consequences will ensue in the distribution of power in our societies and in their democratic procedures?