News and Research articles on Artificial intelligence

Volume 14, Issue 4

Troubling translation: Sociotechnical research in AI policy and governance

Serena Oduro, Data & Society Research Institute
Alice E. Marwick, Data & Society Research Institute
Charley Johnson, Data & Society Research Institute
Erie Meyer, Georgetown Institute for Technology & Law
PUBLISHED ON: 18 Nov 2025 DOI: 10.14763/2025.4.2043

The common call for researchers to simply “translate” sociotechnical insights into policy overlooks the complex dynamics of policymaking. Using two case studies, the article shows how meaningful relationships, not just translation, are key to embedding sociotechnical research in AI governance.

KEYWORDS: Policy translation, Artificial intelligence, Sociotechnical research, Knowledge transfer, Evidence-based policy
Automated decision-making

If transparency is the solution, are we really addressing the problems of automated decision-making?

Hannah Louise Smith, University of Copenhagen

PUBLISHED ON: 24 Jul 2025

While transparency is often championed as the key to addressing the risks of automated decision-making (ADM) in public governance, this op-ed argues that a narrow focus on explainability overlooks deeper systemic issues such as power imbalances, commercial influence, and weakened accountability. To address these issues, mechanisms that promote transparency must operate alongside efforts to enhance citizen engagement and other methods of oversight and accountability to better protect democratic values.

Volume 13, Issue 3

Balancing public interest, fundamental rights, and innovation: The EU’s governance model for non-high-risk AI systems

Michael Gille, Hamburg University of Applied Sciences
Marina Tropmann-Frick, Hamburg University of Applied Sciences
Thorben Schomacker, Hamburg University of Applied Sciences
PUBLISHED ON: 30 Sep 2024 DOI: 10.14763/2024.3.1797

The article takes an in-depth look at the AI Act’s governance approach to non-high-risk AI systems and provides a multi-perspective analysis of the challenges that the EU’s regulation of AI brings about.

KEYWORDS: Artificial intelligence, Co-regulation, Self-regulation, Codes of conduct, AI Act
Volume 13, Issue 3

Balancing efficiency and public interest: The impact of AI automation on social benefit provision in Brazil

Maria Alejandra Nicolás, Federal University of Latin American Integration
Rafael Cardoso Sampaio, Federal University of Paraná
PUBLISHED ON: 30 Sep 2024 DOI: 10.14763/2024.3.1799

The Brazilian Social Security Management Office's AI system reduces the waiting list but increases automatic refusals, harming beneficiaries and increasing inequality in the delivery of public services to the poorest and elderly people.

KEYWORDS: Artificial intelligence, Public interest, Governance, Social benefit provision, Brazil
Artificial intelligence

Misguided: AI regulation needs a shift in focus

Agathe Balayn, Delft University of Technology (TU Delft)
Seda Gürses, Delft University of Technology (TU Delft)

PUBLISHED ON: 30 Sep 2024

Is the current regulatory focus on AI misguided? AI-based services are produced in agile production environments that are decades in the making and concentrated in the hands of a few companies. This article illustrates how AI is only the latest output of these production environments, gives an overview of the socio-technical as well as political-economic concerns these environments raise, and argues why they may be a better target for policy and regulatory interventions.

Volume 13, Issue 3

Contesting the public interest in AI governance

Tegan Cohen, Queensland University of Technology (QUT)
Nicolas P. Suzor, Queensland University of Technology (QUT)
PUBLISHED ON: 30 Sep 2024 DOI: 10.14763/2024.3.1794

This article explores some conditions and possibilities for public contestability in AI governance; a critical attribute of governance arrangements designed to align AI deployment with the public interest.

KEYWORDS: Artificial intelligence, AI governance, Democracy, Public contestability, Public interest
Artificial intelligence

Interview with Friederike Rohde: The environmental impact of AI as a public interest concern

Theresa Züger, Alexander von Humboldt Institute for Internet and Society

PUBLISHED ON: 30 Sep 2024

Rohde cautions that the economic structure that AI is currently being developed within is unfortunately at odds with the public interest. At the same time, she also believes that intelligent algorithms and digitalisation can in essence contribute to environmental and climate protection in tangible ways.

Public interest

Interview with Katharina Meyer: On the tension between public interest and profit maximisation in public interest tech

Theresa Züger, Alexander von Humboldt Institute for Internet and Society

PUBLISHED ON: 30 Sep 2024

In this interview Meyer describes her thinking in the role of a funder and enabler of public interest technology, around how they could decide if a project is in the public interest or constitutes a public good, and various interactions between such projects/products and the market, including the importance of free and open source solutions.

Volume 13, Issue 3

Introduction to the special issue on AI systems for the public interest AI systems for the public interest

Theresa Züger, Alexander von Humboldt Institute for Internet and Society
Hadi Asghari, Alexander von Humboldt Institute for Internet and Society
PUBLISHED ON: 30 Sep 2024 DOI: 10.14763/2024.3.1802

As the debate on public interest AI is still a young and emerging one, we see this special issue as a way to help establish this field and its community by bringing together interdisciplinary positions and approaches.

KEYWORDS: Public interest, Artificial intelligence, Special issue
Volume 13, Issue 3

Restricting access to AI decision-making in the public interest: The justificatory role of proportionality and its balancing factors

Margaret Warthon, University of Groningen
PUBLISHED ON: 30 Sep 2024 DOI: 10.14763/2024.3.1801

The principle of proportionality not only addresses the conflict among competing interests under Article 15(1)(h) GDPR but also shapes the justifications for public interest restrictions on the right of access to AI decision-making information.

KEYWORDS: AI systems, Right of access, Public interest, Artificial intelligence, GDPR
Volume 13, Issue 3

General-purpose AI regulation and the European Union AI Act

Oskar J. Gstrein, University of Groningen
Noman Haleem, University of Groningen
Andrej Zwitter, University of Groningen
PUBLISHED ON: 1 Aug 2024 DOI: 10.14763/2024.3.1790

This article provides an initial analysis of the EU AI Act's approach to general-purpose artificial intelligence, arguing that the regulation marks a significant shift from reactive to proactive AI governance, while concerns about its enforceability, democratic legitimacy and future-proofing remain.

KEYWORDS: Artificial intelligence, General-purpose AI, AI Act, European Union, AI governance
Volume 13, Issue 3

The European approach to regulating AI through technical standards

Mélanie Gornet, Institut Polytechnique de Paris
Winston Maxwell, Institut Polytechnique de Paris
PUBLISHED ON: 16 Jul 2024 DOI: 10.14763/2024.3.1784

The AI Act will require high-risk AI systems to comply with harmonised technical standards, including for the protection of fundamental rights: what problems might arise when mixing technical standards and fundamental rights?

KEYWORDS: Artificial intelligence, AI Act, Standards, CE mark, Fundamental rights
Volume 13, Issue 2

Platform power in AI: The evolution of cloud infrastructures in the political economy of artificial intelligence

Dieuwertje Luitse, University of Amsterdam
PUBLISHED ON: 26 Jun 2024 DOI: 10.14763/2024.2.1768

This paper empirically explores how AWS, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud strategically attempt to operationalise infrastructural power in AI development and implementation through their ecosystems for cloud AI.

KEYWORDS: Infrastructural power, Artificial intelligence, Evolution, Political economy, Cloud computing