Regulatory cooperation in AI sandboxes: insights from Fintech

The article is devoted to the history of the development of ICT and AI, their current and expected future achievements, and the problems (which have already arisen but will become even more acute in the future) associated with the development of these technologies and their widespread application in society. It shows the close connection between the development of AI and cognitive science, the penetration of ICT and AI into various spheres, particularly health care, and the very intimate areas related to the creation of digital copies of the deceased and posthumous contact with them. A significant part of the article is devoted to the analysis of the concept of ‘artificial intelligence’, including the definition of generative AI. The authors analyse recent achievements in the field of Artificial Intelligence. There are given descriptions of the basic models, in particular the Large Linguistic Models (LLM), and forecasts of the development of AI and the dangers that await us in the coming decades. The authors identify the forces behind the aspiration to create AI, which is increasingly approaching the capabilities of the so-called general/universal AI, and also suggest desirable measures to limit and channel the development of artificial intelligence. It is emphasized that the threats and dangers of the development of ICT and AI are particularly aggravated by the monopolization of their development by the state, intelligence services, major corporations and those often referred to as globalists. The article provides forecasts of the development of computers, ICT and AI in the coming decades, and also shows the changes in society that will be associated with them. The study consists of two articles. The first, published in the previous is-sue of the journal, has provided a brief historical overview and characterized the current situation in the field of ICT and AI. It has also analyzed the concepts of artificial intelligence, including generative AI, changes in the understanding of AI related to the emergence of the so-called large language models and related new types of AI programs (ChatGPT and similar models). The article has discussed the serious problems and dangers associated with the rapid and uncontrolled development of artificial intelligence. This second article describes and comments on the current assessments of breakthroughs in the field of AI, analyzes various predictions, and provides the authors' own assessments and predictions of future developments. Particular attention is paid to the problems and dangers associated with the rapid and uncontrolled development of AI, with the fact that advances in this field become a powerful means of control over the population, imposing ideologies, priorities and lifestyles, influencing the results of elections, and a tool to undermine security and geopolitical struggles.

The article approaches regulation of the wholesale energy market as a part of coordinated effort to establish single EU-27 energy market. We analyze the forms of the cooperation among the national regulators responsible for competition in the wholesale energy markets; such responsibility is split - between two, three or more regulators. The principle of cooperation dominates in the oversight of the wholesale energy market [over concurrency] and has been institutionalized in the form the memo, statute or code; it had also evolved in the EU acquis. Domestic legal system of a state remains a fundamental framework in the traditional nation-state world order as the domestic regulators (NCA, NRA or SMA), along with domestic authority, get also to vote in the EU authorities. Previous research concentrated on delegation of the sovereign powers to the EU level and, to a lesser extent, on coordination between national and state level in the federal EU Member States. This article, instead, looks at horizontal cooperation on the national level only using the comparative legal method. The national level appears to generate the ideas for the EU level and not vice versa, at least, in the analyzed settings of Belgium, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain and the United Kingdom. The working arrangements on the information exchange, pooling of resources in the form of task force, investigation crew, joint unit as well as consultations and mutual comments on the policy proposals are common cooperation formats in each of the countries analyzed, often as a formal legislative rule. At the same time, the EU level inter-agency cooperation for the wholesale energy market can boast only memoranda of understanding, quite short. The research also lay prospectives of how Ukrainian government could fit in with its oversight mandate split among the competition authority, financial market authority and energy regulating authority given decision by the European Council on 14-15 December 2023 to open accession negotiations with Ukraine. This publication is third in the planned series of four comparative legal research papers on the inter-action between the regulatory agencies, the first two papers deal with the characterization of the wholesale energy product and wholesale energy market, undertake a content-analysis of the EU-level agencies interactions; the closing fourth part will systematize regulatory policy proposals for the domestic inter-agency cooperation in Ukraine.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is called the end-to-end, closing and most discussed technology of the 21st century. Along with issues of the effectiveness of technologies, ideas about a better life as a result of their implementation, there are pressing questions about how to regulate and manage them in terms of justice, the safety of society, its individual groups and future generations. Yet at the same time besides growth in the number of new Al-based products and their widespread use, there are issues of reliable AI, security and control of potential risks up for debates. In this regard, the beginning of the 2020s is marked with the search for optimal regulatory tools in the field of AI. Academic structures, universities and institutions for development, along with governments and business community in the broad sense, are key platforms for discussing the social implications of new technologies, as well as the tools and mechanisms for their regulation. The materials of such discussions were taken as the basis for this study - these are two panel discussions (2022 and 2023), which were held at Tomsk State University as part of the International Congress “Language, Culture and Technological Transits: New Facets of the Human”. The study was conducted using the focus group method. The list of participants for the panel discussions was formed in a similar way, so as, on the one hand, to preserve the interdisciplinary contour of the discussion due to the nature of AI technologies and, on the other hand, to provide a comparison of the two discussions and consisted of representatives of leading companies developing AI, researchers in the field of law, philosophy, ethics and sociology, academic structures represented by vice-rectors. Representatives of business and academia included participants in government councils and intergovernmental groups on AI development. Questions for discussion included the following blocks: co-production of technology and society in relation to AI, changing concepts of risk and benefit; issues of regulation of digital and AI technologies, ethical dilemmas in the AI era and ways to solve them; maintaining a balance of interests and building trust in the field of AI development. The dilemmas of “government - governance” of AI as well as options for social and business responses to the use of AI were considered. Based on the results of a qualitative analysis of the expert discussion, we can conclude that, under turbulence in the AI technology itself, ethics becomes the basis that provides an opportunity to dialogue and development of optimal norms and rules at this stage for all players involved. Moreover, variability and flexibility of these norms and rules are being observed. Ethics as an instrument of soft law comes forward with a self-regulation mechanism, which is evidence-based and which builds up public confidence and fosters the development of AI technologies. The authors declare no conflicts of interests.

Towards Smarter Consumer Protection Rules for the Digital Society

INTRODUCTION. Artificial intelligence (AI) can significantly strengthen cybersecurity systems of States, as well as serve an additional technical means for malicious actions in the so-called cyberspace. Recognizing this, States have started investing in defensive and offensive autonomous cyber capabilities to protect their interests and deter potential adversaries; this has further fuelled the increase in inter-State cyber operations as nations seek to gain a competitive edge in the digital realm. This paper focuses not only on the problems of applying existing norms of international law to situations of malicious use of AI by States, but also on the process of these norms’ interpretation by different actors and, through this interpretation, crystallization of a common (or at least converging) understanding of their applicability. More specifically, this paper examines the path to understanding of how the norms on the use of force apply to AI-enabled cyber operations.MATERIALS AND METHODS. The present study is based on the works of both Russian and foreign specialists on the law of international information security, as well as analysis of documents and materials of groups of governmental experts under the auspices of the United Nations and the positions of States. In addition to general scientific methods (analysis, synthesis, induction and deduction), the theory of transnational legal process is applied to this study, which considers ongoing discussions of relevant issues on various platforms, and, more generally, the interaction of various actors regarding the formation of a pool of rules for responsible use of AI by States through interaction, interpretation and internalization of the interpreted legal ideas and practices into the domestic legal systems.RESEARCH RESULTS. The international efforts to develop a universal set of rules for responsible State behaviour in cyberspace have enjoyed rather modest success. The analysed history of cyber-related debate suggests that the AI-focused discussion for the foreseeable future will progress outside the area of developing a comprehensive treaty framework. Instead, the legal landscape of AI applications will appear to emerge from soft law instruments and private sector initiatives, which would lead to fragmentation of interpretation and State practice.DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS. The complication of inter-State cyber operations by AI technology raises additional questions about the application of international law, in particular its norms on the use of force, to AI-powered cyber incidents. The deployment of lethal autonomous weapons systems and commitment of AI-powered cyber operations could potentially lead to another ‒ this time, AI ‒ arms race, as nations seek to develop and acquire these systems to maintain strategic parity. This could destabilize global security and increase the risk of conflict escalation. This and other political and ethical considerations argue in favor of limiting the discretion of States in the use of AI. However, to date, the incentives for NATO States, China and Russia to agree on an international binding instrument limiting the use of AI for malicious purposes appear illusory. One could argue that corresponding discussions on AI will probably take place outside of the development of an international treaty, given the historical debate surrounding the application of international law in cyberspace and the development of norms governing responsible States behaviour in the use of information and communication technologies. Further analysis of this development, thus, will require examining how transnational norms, such as those emerging from soft law instruments, customary practices, and private sector initiatives, will shape the international legal landscape of the AI application.

The article is devoted to the history of the development of ICT and AI, their current and expected future achievements, and the problems (which have already arisen but will become even more acute in the future) assiciated with the development of these technologies and their widespread application in society. It shows the close connection between the development of AI and cognitive science, the penetration of ICT and AI into various spheres, particularly health care, and the very intimate areas related to the creation of digital copies of the deceased and posthumous contact with them. A significant part of the article is devoted to the analysis of the concept of “artificial intelligence”, including the definition of generative AI. The authors analyse recent achievements in the field of Artificial Intelligence. There are given descriptions of the basic models, in particular the Large Linguistic Models (LLM), and forecasts of the development of AI and the dangers that await us in the coming decades. The authors identify the forces behind the aspiration to create AI, which is increasingly approaching the capabilities of the so-called general/universal AI, and also suggest desirable measures to limit and channel the development of artificial intelligence. It is emphasized that the threats and dangers of the development of ICT and AI are particularly aggravated by the monopolization of their development by the state, intelligence services, major corporations and those often referred to as globalists. The article provides forecasts of the development of computers, ICT and AI in the coming decades, and also shows the changes in society that will be associated with them. The study consists of two articles. The first, published in the previous issue of the journal, provided a brief historical overview and characterized the current situation in the field of ICT and AI. It also analyzed the concepts of artificial intelligence, including generative AI, changes in the understanding of AI in connection with the emergence of the so-called large language models and related new types of AI programs (ChatGPT and similar models). The article discussed the serious problems and dangers associated with the rapid and uncontrolled development of artificial intelligence. This second article describes and comments on current assessments of breakthroughs in the field of AI, analyzes various predictions, and provides the authors’ own assessments and predictions of future developments. Particular attention is paid to the problems and dangers associated with the rapid and uncontrolled development of AI, with the fact that advances in this field are becoming a powerful means of control over the population, imposing ideology, priorities and lifestyles, influencing the results of elections, and a tool to undermine security and geopolitical struggles.

This article summarizes the author's Robert S. Englemore Memorial Lecture presented at the Thirty-Fourth AAAI Conference on Artificial Intelligence on February 10, 2020. It explores recurring themes in the history of AI, real and imagined dangers from AI, and the future of the field.

The article discusses the development of artificial intelligence systems from an interdisciplinary perspective, addressing philosophical and legal problems. Special attention is paid to the issue of the creation of artificial general intelligence. The use and implementation of AI systems can potentially create controversial legal situations from in many areas. Among them are data confidentiality, social security and responsibility, intellectual property of AI systems, legal personality of AI systems, ethical standards of using AI systems. It is shown that legal regulation in the field of AI is lagging behind technological development. There is practically no legal regulation of the terms, conditions, and rules of the development, launching, operating, integration into other systems, and controlling of AI technologies. The authors analyzes the process of improving the regulatory framework in some countries, especially in the Republic of Belarus. The articles focuses on the paradoxes of legal regulation of AI systems. That authors argue that there is a need for coordination in the development of Belarusian legislation in the field of AI, taking into the account the international legal and philosophical discussion on the social responsibility of AI. The article proposes to develop and adopt a special legislation on the development of AI and robotics. According to the authors, in the new legislation, special attention should be paid to the issues of legal and ethical use of AI systems. The article concludes that there is a critical importance of a comprehensive and multidisciplinary discussion to ensure legal regulation of AI-related issues.

Mental Health Reforms in Europe: Challenges of Postgraduate Psychiatric Training in Europe: A Trainee Perspective

Background: As technological progress accelerates within the judiciary, debate is intensifying over whether artificial intelligence (AI) could, or should, replace human judges in the decision-making process. Increasing attention is being paid to the possibility that AI systems may, over time, equal or surpass human judges in efficiency, consistency, and the delivery of reasoned decisions. At the same time, current developments in legal technology primarily point toward the use of AI as a tool designed to assist judicial decision-making rather than to exercise autonomous adjudicatory authority. This tension between supportive and substitutive uses of AI highlights the need for a nuanced analysis of the permissible and appropriate role of AI in adjudication. The debate becomes even more complex in the European context, where the intersection of technology and law is guided by a commitment to upholding fundamental rights and ethical principles. The adoption of various soft law instruments, such as ethical guidelines and recommendations on AI, alongside the binding provisions of the Regulation (EU) 2024/1689 of the European Parliament and of the Council laying down harmonised rules on artificial intelligence (the AI Act), underscores the EU’s proactive approach to regulating AI in high-risk and sensitive domains, including the administration of justice. This dual emphasis on ethical standards and legal safeguards makes it essential to examine the European approach to AI in adjudication. Methods: This article employs a qualitative legal methodology, drawing primarily on doctrinal, analytical, and teleological methods. The doctrinal method serves as the foundation, involving a systematic analysis of EU and Council of Europe instruments, including the European Ethical Charter on the Use of AI in Judicial Systems, the Ethics Guidelines for Trustworthy AI, and the AI Act, to identify how European law conceptualises AI in adjudication and safeguards human oversight. The teleological method is applied to interpret these instruments in light of their broader objectives, uncovering how human-centric principles and fundamental rights guide the permissible use of AI in courts. Finally, the analytical method integrates insights from these sources to develop a conceptual framework distinguishing between supportive and substitutive models of AI adjudication, thereby clarifying the normative boundaries of the European approach.

Artificial intelligence: its applications in reproductive medicine and the assisted reproductive technologies

This paper starts from the premise that argumentation in EU (Commission) soft law instruments is essential for their effectiveness, mainly due to its function to persuade addressees as a means to enhance compliance. Notwithstanding their importance in the EU legal-political landscape, the problem is how to ensure that these instruments devoid of formal legally binding force can function as effective governance tools by convincing addressees to comply, particularly during crisis periods such as the Covid-19 crisis, when fast and effective action is urgently needed. By pointing at a number of significant legal problems and concerns deriving from the Commission’s ‘hardened’ soft law instruments, we suggest a normative approach focusing on the potential of EU soft law instruments to act as highly persuasive tools. By making the instruments’ argumentation a core concern, we examine its role as a means to improve the intrinsic quality of EU (Commission) soft law and to foster effective compliance. To this end, we propose a theoretical-analytical framework combining insights from law and argumentation theory, that puts forward an argumentative toolbox for the analysis and assessment of EU (Commission) soft law instruments. This toolbox comprises four argumentative parameters that need to be taken into account in the drafting and evaluation of EU (Commission) soft law instruments: (1) the content of the argumentation, (2) the design of the arguments pointing at persuasive suggestions for cooperation, (3) the factors influencing argumentative effectiveness, and (4) the soundness of argumentation.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has become one of the most frequently used terms in the technical jargon (and often in not-so-technical jargon). Recent advancements in the field of AI have certainly contributed to the AI hype, and so have numerous applications and results of using AI technology in practice. Still, just like with any other hype, the AI hype has its controversies. This paper critically examines developments in the field of AI from multiple perspectives - research, technological, social and pragmatic. Part of the controversies of the AI hype stem from the fact that people use the term AI differently, often without a deep understanding of the wider context in which AI as a field has been developing since its inception in Mid 1950s.

This article presents the key findings of feasibility and scoping study into the reporting of research information at a national level within the United Kingdom, based on Common European Research Information Format (CERIF). The study was carried out by the Jisc-funded UK Research Information Shared Service (UKRISS) project. The reporting of research information to funders and statutory bodies is a major burden on researchers and institutions. The landscape for research reporting in the UK Higher Education sector is complex and fragmented. There is limited harmonization in reporting requests made on institutions and researchers, resulting in duplication of effort and limiting the potential for reuse of the information. The paper describes the current landscape for research reporting in the United Kingdom. The methodology and findings from a study involving interviews with a cross-section of major stakeholders is described. Recommendations for further work in the area are proposed.

Soft law instruments account for a sizable share of EU legal acts, with growing importance over time. Yet, while the implementation of hard EU law has been widely studied, little is known about the use of EU soft law at the national level. In the article, it is firstly argued that the type of soft law instrument will affect national usage. Administrators and judges may welcome interpretative guidelines to complicated pieces of legislation, while more open-ended instruments may be ignored. It is further argued that the maturity of the policy field matters. National actors in mature policy fields will be routinely exposed to EU rules and they are socialized into responding to impulses from Brussels. The article probes the plausibility of these expectations in case studies on the use of EU soft law instruments by German administrations and courts in four policy fields: financial market regulation, competition, environmental protection and social policy.