INNOVATION LAW AND REGULATION

In the last ten years legal professions have been deeply affected by digitalization. First new computational techniques, such as machine learning (ML), artificial intelligence (AI) and natural language processing (NLP), are extensively transforming the way lawyers, courts, and legislatures work. Legal practitioners like lawyers and judges are making the more and more use of legal tech tools; legislatures are given the chance to draft algorithmic rules by transforming them into code that computers may read and execute; legal scholars use computational tools to extract information from huge corpora of legal texts and incorporate it into traditional doctrinal studies; the judiciary is also employing AI-based tools to help their case searches and support their decisions. At the same time, two major reforms have been adopted by the EU that affect both the operation of big digital ecosystems and the use of AI systems. The Digital Services Act was adopted to ensure fairness and trustworthiness in digital landscapes. The AI act regulation, on the other hand, was adopted to ensure safe, trustworthy AI that respects fundamental rights through a risk-based framework. This course aims at providing an advanced understanding of the major theoretical and practical challenges raised by the use of computational tools and AI more broadly in different legal professions, as well as an up-to-date overview of how the EU's policy and regulation of digital platforms and AI. Third, a thematic Seminar is organized focusing on “Artificial Intelligence Across Law, Courts, and Financial Supervision” [v. programme]. It will consist of five guest lectures from accredited experts from academia, institutions, and leading law firms, who will provide applied perspectives and engage with students on professional and career-related issues. During the course, students will be asked to work in groups to exercise their writing and analytical skills, as well as to present and advocate their position before their peers. This in-class presentation is meant to exercise their rhetorical and communications skills. Overall, the course encourages students in open discussion and active participation at any session.

No specific preliminary knowledge is required, as the main technical concepts covered by the course will be thoroughly explained in class. Nonetheless, having some basic knowledge of legal informatics may be of help. We therefore HIGHLY RECOMMEND reading W.H.-Riem, Legal Technology/Computational Law. Preconditions, opportunities and risks, in J. Cross-Disciplinary Research in Computer Law, 2020, available at https://journalcrcl.org/crcl/asicle/view/7/3 before the course starts.

By the end of the course, acquired knowledge and skills will enable students to better understand how the rise of digital technologies are shaping different fields of law and how digital platforms are being regulated. Knowledge and understanding: The student, through participation in lectures, interactive teaching activities and in-depth seminars, should be able to adequately orient him/herself within the "Law and Tech" debate, reaching full knowledge of the impact of technological progress on the different areas of law and the forms of regulation of digital platforms. Ability to apply knowledge and understanding: The student will be able to identify the legal issues concerning new technologies, recognizing the different European and national regulatory perspectives underlying them. He/she will also need to recognize different legal notions that are instrumental to the framing of new technologies. The acquisition of these skills will be assessed through a written exam at the end of the course. Autonomy of judgment: The student, through the knowledge acquired in class, will develop autonomy of evaluation and judgment on the topics of the course. He/she will be able to correctly identify the legal macro- categories needed to solve the legal problems of new technologies. The development of critical thinking will be encouraged, including through the production of short essays to be transmitted on the LUISS learn platform and in-class presentations on the topics covered in class. Communication Skills: The student will learn the vocabulary proper to the subject Law and Tech, to argue rhetorically effectively and in line with the latest legal developments. For this purpose, in-class "presentations" will be performed, where students will be required to report orally on assigned topics, that are previously analysed through a written (individual or group) research work. Learning skills: The student should be able to recognize the prospects for future development of the Law and Tech field that he/she will face in the continuation of his/her studies, as well as in the course of his/her future work.

The course is composed of three Modules. Module 1 (w 1-4) is methodological and introduces to the impact of digital technologies on legal professions. Specifically, this module investigates the use of AI and computational tools by lawyers (legal tech), the judiciary, and legislature (algorithmic rules). Module 2 (w 5-8) focuses on two major EU reforms, namely: the Digital Services Act (DSA) and the Artificial Intelligence Act (AI Act). It will also provide examples on how AI can enhance information duties by addressing topics such as Dark patterns. Module 3 (w 9-13) consists of a Seminar on "Artificial Intelligence Across Law, Courts and Supervision”. Together with external speakers, we will try to figure out the future of AI in legal professions.

All teaching materials are available on the MyLuiss platform from the course’s outset. Readings are either uploaded as pdf files or referred to through links to the Luiss electronic Library or external sources.

Lectures, seminars, in-class discussion with students, based on previous reading of the teaching materials. In- class discussion of teaching materials suggesting opposing views on the same issue will also be made to stimulate the discussion and favour autonomous critical thinking.

Attending students: [Attendance is monitored via the Beacon app. To qualify as attending, students must participate to 70% of classes] - attendance (20%) - in-class presentation (50%) [cover topics from readings of Modules 1 or 2] - in class active participation (10%) - final written exam (20%) [it will be a multiple choice test and cover only topics of Module 2] Non-attending students: written exam (100%). [it will be a multiple choice test and cover all compulsory readings for Modules 1 and 2]. Written exam. It will consist of a multiple choice test to be performed in Luiss labs in the official exams dates. - For attending students: 30 questions in 20 minutes -For non-attending students: 60 questions in 50 minutes

Relevance of the proposed topic and passing the exam in that subject with a high grade.