Regulating Government AI and the Challenge of Sociotechnical Design

 

Regulating Government AI and the Challenge of Sociotechnical Design

David Freeman Engstrom and Amit Haim

Artificial intelligence (AI) is transforming how governments work, from distribution of public benefits, to identifying enforcement targets, to meting out sanctions. But, given AI's twin capacity to cause and cure error, bias, and inequity, there is little consensus about how to regulate its use. This review advances debate by lifting up research at the intersection of computer science, organizational behavior, and law. First, pushing past the usual catalogs of algorithmic harms and benefits, we argue that what makes government AI most concerning is its steady advance into discretion-laden policy spaces where we have long tolerated less-than-full legal accountability. The challenge is how, but also whether, to fortify existing public law paradigms without hamstringing government or stymieing useful innovation. Second, we argue that sound regulation must connect emerging knowledge about internal agency practices in designing and implementing AI systems to longer-standing lessons about the limits of external legal constraints in inducing organizations to adopt desired practices. Meaningful accountability requires a more robust understanding of organizational behavior and law as AI permeates bureaucratic routines.

Expected final online publication date for the Annual Review of Law and Social Science, Volume 19 is October 2023. Please see http://www.annualreviews.org/page/journal/pubdates for revised estimates.

SCHOLARSHIP: The Hague Academy of International Law Summer Courses

The Hague Academy of International Law has issued a call for applicants for summer courses of international law and scholarship as well.

A merit-based scholarship program allows approximately 20% of participants to the Summer Courses to receive financial assistance from public and private funding sources. The Secretary-General, in the name of the Curatorium, selects scholarship recipients.

 Period:

• Public International Law: 7 - 25 July 2014

• Private International Law: 28 July - 15 August 2014 

Registration for the 2014 Summer Courses starts December 1st, 2013.

Closing date for applications: March 1st, 0:00 hrs. The Hague time (GMT+1)

In general, scholarships are in the amount of 1150 Euros (from which the registration fee of 400 Euros will be deducted). Travel expenses will be partially reimbursed either by the relevant donor or by the Academy 

Applications for scholarships must relate to only one of the two periods. The Conditions of admission are the same as for full-fee applicants.

Candidates cannot register as paying participants and apply for a scholarship for the same session at the same time. In such cases only the scholarship application will be considered. It is however possible to apply for one session at the full fee (e.g. Public International Law) and to apply for a scholarship to attend the other session (e.g. Private International Law).

Applicants can be awarded a scholarship only once. If you already participated in any of our previous Summer Courses on the basis of a scholarship, you are now exclusively admissible at the full fee.

Details are here and here.

JOURNAL: Asian Journal of International Law

Cambridge University Press has announced the latest issue of the Asian Journal of International Law (AsianJIL). Now online without charge.
All articles and book reviews from this issue can be read until the 20th of November 2013.

AsianJIL publishes peer-reviewed scholarly articles and book reviews on public and private international law.

Articles are weelcomed that focus specifically on Asian issues as well as ones that bring one of the Asian perspectives to bear on issues of global concern.

Other papers welcomed by AsianJIL will be of more general interest to scholars, practitioners, and policymakers located in or working in Asia. How to submit here.

CALL FOR PAPERS: International Society of Family Law Regional Conference

Hart Publishing is pleased inform you about the International Society of Family Law regional conference that is taking place on the 2^nd – 3^rd January 2014 in Israel.

The conference marks the 30^th anniversary of the entry into force of the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction (in December 1983) and the publication of Dr. Rhona Schuz's book, The Hague Child Abduction Convention – A Critical Analysis which is due for publication by Hart Publishing in October 2013 (details below).

Information about submitting a paper for the conference is shown below and it is also available by clicking on the following link: http://www.hartpub.co.uk/ISFL_REGIONAL_CONFERENCE_ISRAEL.pdf

Location: Sha'arei Mishpat Law School, Hod Hasharon, Israel

BOOK: Schuz on The Hague Child Abduction Convention

Hart Publishing just announced the publication of Rhona Schuz's The Hague Child Abduction Convention: Critical Analysis:

The continuing steady flow of case law from the various Member States of The Hague Child Abduction Convention has resulted in the emergence of different approaches to the interpretation of key concepts in the Convention. In addition, over the years other global and regional legal instruments and the recommendations of the Special Commissions have had an impact on the implementation of the Convention.

This book brings together all these strands and provides an up-to-date, clear and highly readable discussion of the international operation of the Abduction Convention, together with in-depth critical academic analysis.

Particular emphasis is placed on analysing the interpretation of the Convention in light of the 1989 United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. Throughout the book, examples are brought from case law in many jurisdictions and reference is made to relevant legal and social science literature and empirical research.

This book will be essential reading for judges, practitioners, researchers, students, policy-makers and others who are seeking a critical and informed analysis of the latest developments in international abduction law and practice.

Publication Date: Oct 2013