ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE IN THE ADMINISTRATION OF JUSTICE THROUGH THE PRISM OF THE FOUNDATIONS OF LEGITIMACY IN THE RULE-OF-LAW STATE

Author

Ivo Emanuilov, LLM, Katerina Yordanova, LLM

Annotation

This article examinesissues relating to the catalogue of obligations introduced by Regulation (EU) 2024/1689, also known as the EU Artificial Intelligence Act, with regard to high-risk artificial intelligence systems in the justice system. The article aims to analyse the potential lack of sufficient safeguards regarding the legitimacy of AI systems deployed in the justice system, which the Regulation defines as high-risk when they have a direct functional link to law enforcement, i.e. systems that draw legal conclusions, resolve ambiguities or draft legal acts. The Regulation classifies these and other types of high-risk systems under the general category of product safety within the internal market. The main argument is based on the fact that there is a qualitative difference between the obligation for a product to comply with regulatory safety requirements and the legitimacy of exercising public authority mediated through algorithmic systems, particularly judicial authority. The authors question whether the Regulation’s product safety-oriented and risk-based approach is capable of meeting these requirements, which are linked to the very foundations of the rule of law. The article is of a fundamental nature and proposes a roadmap for future research to outline under what conditions and to what extent the implementation of such systems can be ensured in accordance with the foundations of legitimacy in a state governed by the rule of law.

Keywords

justice; artificial intelligence; rule of law; algorithmic rule by law