Law & Artificial Intelligence for PhD Students

Uppsala University

Spring 2024- Date: 12 April - 31 May 2024

Language: English

Course director: Katja de Vries

E-post: katja.devries@jur.uu.se

Contact for registration: doktorandinfo-jur@uu.se

Course content
Within the last decade the technological advances and societal uptake of Artificial Intelligence (AI) has been enormous. Currently AI is getting a foothold in almost any aspect of life. AI software (personalized recommender systems, automated risk assessment systems, image analytics, etc.) has become ubiquitous and is increasingly embedded within smart objects such as voice assistants like Alexa or Siri, smart cameras, drones and self-driving cars. AI is both used to classify (“social sorting”) as well as to create (such as “deepfakes”). This course will introduce participants to the most salient legal debates surrounding the uptake of AI within society. The course in organized into four thematic parts:
(1) The basics of AI. We discuss some classical texts on regulating and organizing society through information technology (IT), gain an understanding of what AI is and how its applications affect a variety of legal domains (constitutional law, data protection, intellectual property, torts law, etc.)
(2) New EU instruments and policies regulating AI. We discuss the General Data Protection Regulation 2016/679 and the Copyright Directive 2019/790, as well as legal instruments that are currently still in the making as part of the digital strategy of the EU: the Digital Services Act, the Digital Markets Act and the proposed Data Governance Act.
(3) AI in practice. We discuss several practical examples of how AI is used and the legal issues that it raises. The literature and cases will be picked to align as much as possible to the interests and field of expertise of the course participants.
(4) AI in your own research. Building on the previous section we discuss how AI can play a role in the research of the course participants. Course participants will submit a written paper on a topic of choice. The written papers will form the point of departure for further group discussions.
The learning outcome of this course is that doctoral students will be able to critically discuss applications of AI within society from a legal perspective. Students will have explored the relevance of AI & Law for their own research and will be able to relate to relevant literature and recent legal regulations.

Course syllabus

Course schedule

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