AI and law: ethical, legal, and socio-political implications

摘要

We live in interesting times. Humanity has witnessed unprecedented technological advances with respect to artificial intelligence (AI), which now impacts our daily lives through e.g. our smartphones and the Internet of Things. AI determines the result of our credit and loan applications; in the United States, it often informs parole decisions; and it pervades our work environments.In recent decades, we have seen the positive effects of AI in almost every area of our lives, but we have also encountered significant ethical and legal challenges in such areas as autonomous transportation, machine bias, and the black box problem. Concerns have also arisen regarding the rapid development and increasing use of smart technologies, particularly with respect to their impact on fundamental rights (Gordon 2020).This special issue provides an excellent overview of current debates in the realm of AI and law. It contains timely and original articles that thoroughly examine the ethical, legal, and socio-political implications of AI and law as viewed from various academic perspectives, such as philosophy, theology, law, medicine, and computer science. The issues covered include, for example, the key concept of personhood and its legal and ethical dimensions, AI in healthcare, legal regulation of AI, and the legal and ethical issues related to autonomous systems.