Episode #49 – Maas on AI and the Future of International Law

In this episode I talk to Matthijs Maas. Matthijs is a doctoral researcher at the University of Copenhagen’s ‘AI and Legal Disruption’ research unit, and a research affiliate with the Governance of AI Program at Oxford University’s Future of Humanity Institute. His research focuses on safe and beneficial global governance strategies for emerging, transformative AI systems. This involves, in part, a study of the requirements and pitfalls of international regimes for technology arms control, non-proliferation and the conditions under which these are legitimate and effective. We talk about the phenomenon of ‘globally disruptive AI’ and the effect it will have on the international legal order.

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Show Notes

• 0:00 – Introduction
• 2:11 – International Law 101
• 6:38 – How technology has repeatedly shaped the content of international law
• 10:43 – The phenomenon of ‘globally disruptive artificial intelligence’ (GDAI)
• 15:20 – GDAI and the development of international law
• 18:05 – Will we need new laws?
• 19:50 – Will GDAI result in lots of legal uncertainty?
• 21:57 – Will the law be under/over-inclusive of GDAI?
• 25:21 – Will GDAI render international law obsolete?
• 31:00 – Could we have a tech-neutral international law?
• 34:10 – Could we automate the monitoring and enforcement of international law?
• 44:35 – Could we replace international legal institutions with technological systems of management?
• 47:35 – Could GDAI lead to the end of the international legal order?
• 57:23 – Could GDAI result in more isolationism and less multi-lateralism
• 1:00:40 – So what will the future be?

Relevant Links

• Follow Matthijs on Twitter
• Artificial Intelligence and Legal Disruption research group (University of Copenhagen)
• Governance of AI Program (University of Oxford)
• Dafoe, Allan. “AI Governance: A Research Agenda.” Oxford: Governance of AI Program, Future of Humanity Institute, 2018.
• On history of technology and international law: Picker, Colin B. “A View from 40,000 Feet: International Law and the Invisible Hand of Technology.” Cardozo Law Review 23 (2001): 151–219.
• Brownsword, Roger. “In the Year 2061: From Law to Technological Management.” Law, Innovation and Technology 7, no. 1 (January 2, 2015): 1–51.
• Boutin, Berenice. “Technologies for International Law & International Law for Technologies.” Groningen Journal of International Law (blog), October 22, 2018.
• Moses, Lyria Bennett. “Recurring Dilemmas: The Law’s Race to Keep Up With Technological Change.” SSRN Scholarly Paper. Rochester, NY: Social Science Research Network, April 11, 2007.
• On establishing legal ‘artificially intelligent entities’, etc:
  Burri, Thomas. “International Law and Artificial Intelligence.” SSRN Electronic Journal, 2017.