The use of Artificial Intelligence in Municipal Law

inter alia in legal systems influenced by the Roman-Germanic legal traditions

 

In today’s world saturated with novelties and cutting-edge services that appear and are being developed in quantum jumps, miscellaneous spheres are affected and hence, require the relevant amelioration and the regulation thereof. In this scientific article we are going to give prominence to the subject which has evolved from the stage of being futuristically characterized as a ‘buzz-word’, to the acceptance of its imminent and consequential deployment – Artificial Intelligence (henceforth referred to as ‘AI’). The Municipal law has always been considered to constitute a specific connection between the state power and the people’s authority per se. Thus, as the social relations have already been given a great impact by the implementation of AI, creating even new and unprecedented public relations, the branch of law aforementioned is being altered and has to be harmonized with the corresponding innovations – this specifies the relevance of our scientific work. 

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That is why the primary purpose of our research is to put the emphasis on the enlightening of the changes AI has brought to the Municipal law and highlight the realms it has already been implemented into or may be used in the nearest perspective.  

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Presentation of the main body of the article. The prevalence of various technologies in modern times is apparent and witnessed these days. As such processes as digitalization accompanied by the concurrent environmental protection and preservation are gaining their relevance and are considered to be of the paramount importance, many respective strategies and visions of how to face the corresponding issues that arise are being put forward. Besides, on our political and simultaneously economic agenda we encounter with challenges pertaining to the clear understanding of innovations and the provision of the latters’ judicious application and hence, some criterions and implications may not have been considered in the aforementioned policies. 

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Hence, it is vital to put the emphasis on the fact that AI, almost being a ubiquitous and inseparable element of novel digital projects, has to be estimated properly by applying a consequential granular approach – that is one of the aspects enlightened in our previous research [1]. Undoubtedly, the European Union has contributed to define the notion of AI, characterizing it not only from the vista of technology, but as a scientific discipline in particular [2].

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From the perspective of information technology, AI represents a sophisticated system or, as prescribed in the European Commission’s Proposal for the Artificial Intelligence Act, even a ‘family of technologies’ which include different learning algorithms able to optimize the functioning of a wide spectrum of spheres and industries, especially the economics is viewed to be provided with an upgrade never known before. Taking into consideration the natural interest of the EU in maintaining high-ranking leadership positions in the branch of technologies, it has adopted measures to achieve its long-term goals and expressed an opinion to provide a pertinent regulation in order to adhere to Union fundamental rights and principles [3]. Beyond the shadow of a doubt, as municipalities are designated for establishing of the direct connection with people, the deployment of novel intelligent systems bears a great impact on the society’s level of trust towards the local authorities and the government itself, and, without a question, on the development of the whole area this technological implementation encompasses. 

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In such a state of affairs, we shall focus on voluminous spheres where AI, as a spark of fire that has remained untamed thus far, burst into.

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Advisory case processing. That is how this aspect of AI was named in the corresponding study by the Nordic Council of Ministers [4]. Besides, the Nordic region is also characterized as one of the most digitally advanced in the world, including a well-developed network of municipal institutions. The main aim of the applicable AI technology lies in giving people advice concerning the cases the municipality officers have to solve on a daily basis and make responsible decisions thereon. In the Nordic region, new and less experienced case officers were introduced with such novel tactics first as the municipalities thought that AI could advise them by forming specific algorithms and building its strategy on precedents. However, such procedure may raise a certain controversy. In the event of an excessive reliance on AI which provides the officers with the analysis of previous decisions in cases, eventually, a situation that would lead to the impossibility of the progress on the municipal level may happen, entailing the eradication of individuality and unambiguity. If the aforementioned practice was established and applied in particular, it would become the start of the obsolesce and the increscent emergence of the claw-back provisions that no longer comply with modern realities; in addition, it could result in the decrease of the level of professionalism and competency of municipality’s employees and the violation of the EU values. 

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Hence, in order to strike a balance, provide the people with a just resolution and preserve working spaces that have already been supposed to become affected by the digitalization, municipalities should exclusively have recourse to AI when there is a strong and emergent need to find a specific correlation and conduct a comprehensive review, but on the condition of the retention of critical thinking and the decision being non-detriment to the rule of law. This way, in pursuit of so-called efficiency and mobility, the Municipal law would not forfeit its objectives.

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Integrated infrastructures, sustainable and safe mobility, logistics – the basic components of the idea of so-called ‘Smart cities’ the primary focus thereof is directed on the citizens’ needs. One of AI’s significant aims for municipalities in the aforementioned concept is to provide the government with an accurate assessment of damage (e.g., its prediction, detection, classification and localization), maintain order on the roads which comprises strengthened, revitalized and secure transport systems of connected and automated mobility, inter alia resulting in the reduction of overall environmental implications caused by traffic (for instance, decreasing GHG emissions by 90% by 2050) [5]. Hence, the technology would facilitate the level of local stability. Nevertheless, it is worth noting the fact that the relevant legal framework has to be adopted and enacted. Indisputably, some of the EU local communities have already gained benefit from the use of such innovations. For example, Stockholm Municipality deployed AI in order to be proactive in predictions of possible leaks in water and sewer systems, while in Helsinki the technology was tested on its precision on prognosticating the weather and guiding snow ploughs to certain areas with a high probability of snowfall; some similar practices were quite successful [4]. 

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It is vital to highlight that by expanding the scale of such experiments, the situations, conditions and circumstances become more complex, especially when we have no general regulatory act. These mobility and connectivity in systems of transport prescribe the use of automated vehicles as well as their nexus with each other, establishing specific data-centers that would operate and control the traffic as well as the application of drones. However, since the taxonomy of the liability for the use of such machines with AI deployed has not been crystallized and stipulated on the level it has to be, the legal lacuna that arises may lead to such a turn of events when the government, including the municipal representatives, would not be in a position to preserve security and sustainability as the level of cybercrime is increasing and the perpetrators would have a higher possibility to intrude into the data centers and hence, cause mass disturbances, specifically on the cross-border corridors which intrinsically intertwine the novel vehicles. Thus, before implementing such global and promising projects, the mechanisms of security measures’ realization should be developed, prescribed and brought into life. The status quo enlightened above would provide the municipalities in particular with certain strategies that would maintain the stability of the world order, guaranteeing the fundamental human rights. 

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Synthesizing the information enlightened in our scientific research above, it has to be emphasized that the list of aspects we touched upon is not exhaustive. Moreover, various spheres would definitely undergo crucial changes and be altered taking into account the projects of ‘Smart cities’; and nowadays we may have already become the witnesses of challenges that arise in terms of establishing the liability, guaranteeing data protection, ensuring access to the Internet (hence, safeguarding the right to education, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic) etc. Therefore, for the purposes aforementioned it is necessary to reach an accord between the society and trailblazing technologies by establishing a flexible regulation the provisions thereof would not be declarative, but actual and efficient. In such a state of affairs, miscellaneous legal branches, including the Municipal law would serve the people, comply with modernity and reach a harmony with innovations in the long term. 

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References

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1) Prianykova P., ‘Cybercrime as an obstruction for the deployment of AI into miscellaneous transport systems (the taxonomy of criminal liability for the use of AI is included)’ // Science foundations of modern science and practice. Abstracts of X International Scientific and Practical Conference. Athens, Greece. – 2021. – Pp. 186-193. – URL: https://isg-konf.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/Science-foundations-of-modern-science-and-.pdf – (Accessed on 27 November 2021).

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2) ‘A definition of AI: Main capabilities and scientific disciplines’, High-Level Expert Group on Artificial Intelligence - URL: https://ec.europa.eu/futurium/en/system/files/ged/ai_hleg_definition_of_ai_18_december_1.pdf – (Accessed on 27 November 2021).

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3) Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council (Artificial Intelligence Act) and amending certain Union legislative acts – URL: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?qid=1623335154975&uri=CELEX%3A52021PC0206 – (Accessed on 27 November 2021).

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4) ‘Nordic municipalities’ work with artificial intelligence’, Ulf Andreasson and Truls Stende – URL: https://norden.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:1375500/FULLTEXT01.pdf – (Accessed on 27 November 2021).

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5) Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament and the Council on the EU Strategy for a Sustainable and Smart Mobility – URL:   https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=pi_com%3AAres%282020%293438177 – (Accessed on 27 November 2021).

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Officially Published in December 02, 2021, Kyiv, Ukraine (p. 82 - 86)

http://ippi.org.ua/sites/default/files/socialna_i_cifrova_transformaciya_2021.pdf

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© Copyright by Polina Prianykova_all rights reserved