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What Role for Ethics in the Law of AI?

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Artificial Intelligence, Social Harms and Human Rights

Part of the book series: Critical Criminological Perspectives ((CCRP))

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Abstract

The aim of the chapter is to explore the broader scope of the Ethics Guidelines for Trustworthy AI. In particular, the chapter focuses on the reasons that led the EU to develop an ethical approach to AI, seeking to investigate to what extent it is arguable that the ethical principles for a trustworthy AI should be based on the compliance with fundamental rights. It points out that the symbolic value of fundamental rights as embedded within this non-binding tool, shows the normative vision of the EU, mitigating the possible conflict between institutional and private actors involved and their related interests. It argues that neither the ethical approach nor the mere legal design of AI can effectively address the issue of algorithmic inferences and their impact on individuals and society. Finally, it seeks to contextualize the rationales of the Ethics Guidelines within the core issues of the Proposal for AI Regulation (Artificial Intelligence Act), investigating commonalities and differences between these two regulatory approaches.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Ethics Guidelines for Trustworthy AI, https://op.europa.eu/it/publication-detail/-/publication/d3988569-0434-11ea-8c1f-01aa75ed71a1.

  2. 2.

    White Paper on Artificial Intelligence. A European Approach to Excellence and Trust, https://ec.europa.eu/info/sites/info/files/commission-white-paper-artificial-intelligencefeb2020en.pdf.

  3. 3.

    Guidelines for Military and Non-military Use of Artificial Intelligence, https://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/en/press-room/20210114IPR95627/guidelines-for-military-and-nonmilitary-use-of-artificial-intelligence.

  4. 4.

    See the Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council laying down harmonized rules on artificial intelligence (Artificial Intelligence Act) and amending certain union legislative acts, https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:52021PC0206&from=EN.

  5. 5.

    On global regulatory models, see Yeung and Lodge (2019) and Bignami (2018).

  6. 6.

    European Framework on Ethical Aspects of Artificial Intelligence, Robotics and Related Technologies, https://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/STUD/2020/654179/EPRSSTU(2020)654179EN.pdf; The Ethics of Artificial Intelligence: Issues and Initiatives, https://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/STUD/2020/634452/EPRSSTU(2020)634452EN.pdf; Artificial Intelligence: From Ethics to Policy, https://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/STUD/2020/641507/EPRSSTU(2020)641507EN.pdf.

  7. 7.

    On these aspects see Catanzariti (2020a, 239–255; 2020b, 149–165).

  8. 8.

    Cath et al. (2018, 525): “This approach to human dignity provides the much-needed grounding in a well-established, ethical, legal, political, and social concept, which can help to ensure that tolerant care and fostering respect for people (both as individuals and as groups), their cultures and their environments, play a steering role in the assessments and planning for the future of an AI-driven world. By relying on human dignity as the pivotal concept, it should become less difficult to develop a comprehensive vision of how responsibility, cooperation, and sharable values can guide the design a ‘good AI society’”. See also McCrudden (2013, 1–58).

  9. 9.

    Pariotti (2013, 31).

  10. 10.

    Sheppele (2018), https://verfassungsblog.de/rule-of-law-retail-and-rule-of-law-wholesale-the-ecjs-alarming-celmer-decision/.

  11. 11.

    Rawls in the edition of 1999 of A Theory of Justice revisited the concept of overlapping consensus, exploring the issue of its possible effects on ethics (Rawls, 1999, 340 ss.).

  12. 12.

    Pariotti’s conceptualization on this is convincing in the sense that human rights are a resting notion with respect to ethics, not the contrary, as rights are derivative concepts. See Pariotti (2013, 204). See also Eisler (1987, 287).

  13. 13.

    Artificial Intelligence. From Ethics to Policy, https://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/STUD/2020/641507/EPRSSTU(2020)641507EN.pdf, p. 24; see also Yeung et al. (2020, 81–82).

  14. 14.

    See Ethics Guidelines, parr. 36 and 46. See also cfr. Mantelero (2018, 29): “the effect of the social and ethical values on the interpretation of these human rights. These values represent the societal factors that influence the way the balance is achieved between the different human rights and freedoms, in different contexts and in different periods. Moreover, social and ethical values concur in defining the extension of rights and freedoms, making possible broader forms of protection when the regulatory framework does not provide adequate answers to emerging issues”. See also White Paper, p. 36, on the lack of legal basis of concepts such as transparency, traceability and human intervention, https://ec.europa.eu/info/publications/white-paper-artificial-intelligence-european-approachexcellence-and-trusten.

  15. 15.

    Orgad and Reijers (2020, 2–3), https://cadmus.eui.eu/bitstream/handle/1814/66910/RSCAS%20202028.pdf.

  16. 16.

    Síthigh and Siems (2019, 17), https://cadmus.eui.eu/bitstream/handle/1814/60424/LAW201901.pdf.

  17. 17.

    See § 40 of the Ethics Guidelines: “Among the comprehensive set of indivisible rights set out in international human rights law, the EU Treaties and the EU Charter, the below families of fundamental rights are particularly apt to cover AI systems. Many of these rights are, in specified circumstances, legally enforceable in the EU so that compliance with their terms is legally obligatory. But even after compliance with legally enforceable fundamental rights has been achieved, ethical reflection can help us understand how the development, deployment and use of AI systems may implicate fundamental rights and their underlying values, and can help provide more fine-grained guidance when seeking to identify what we should do rather than what we (currently) can do with technology”.

  18. 18.

    Author’s translation from the Italian edition, see Böckenforde (1967, 68–69).

  19. 19.

    Bradford (2019, 7, 142, 147).

  20. 20.

    Cremona and Scott (2019, 11), Bradford (2015, 158), and Ebers and Cantero Gamito (2021, 8).

  21. 21.

    Chiti and Marchetti (2020, 39).

  22. 22.

    Ibidem, 40 and 41.

  23. 23.

    Ibidem, 48.

  24. 24.

    Waldman (2020, 107).

  25. 25.

    Renda (2021, 667) and Punzi (2003, 1–428).

  26. 26.

    Turing (1950, 433).

  27. 27.

    Ebers (2020, 92).

  28. 28.

    Hildebrandt and O'Hara (2020, 1–15). Pariotti interestingly reflects upon the difference between soft regulation and soft law (2017, 8–27).

  29. 29.

    Watcher and Mittelstadt (2019, 494–620).

  30. 30.

    Ibid.

  31. 31.

    Zuboff (2019, 128).

  32. 32.

    Stuermer et al. (2017, 247–262).

  33. 33.

    Stevens (2020, 156, 168).

  34. 34.

    Floridi (2010, 4).

  35. 35.

    Graber (2020, 194–213).

  36. 36.

    Mittelstadt et al. (2016, 4).

  37. 37.

    Ibidem, 4–10.

  38. 38.

    Floridi (2013, 322).

  39. 39.

    Floridi (2015, 11).

  40. 40.

    Surden (2020, 721).

  41. 41.

    Artificial Intelligence Act, https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:52021PC0206&from=EN. https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:52021PC0206&from=EN, 9.

  42. 42.

    Ibidem, 12.

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  1. Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies, European University Institute, Fiesole, Italy

    Mariavittoria Catanzariti

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  1. Mariavittoria Catanzariti
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  1. Institute of Criminology at the Faculty of Law, Ljubljana, Slovenia

    Aleš Završnik

  2. Ministry of Labour, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities of the Republic of Slovenia, Ljubljana, Slovenia

    Katja Simončič

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Catanzariti, M. (2023). What Role for Ethics in the Law of AI?. In: Završnik, A., Simončič, K. (eds) Artificial Intelligence, Social Harms and Human Rights. Critical Criminological Perspectives. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-19149-7_6

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