Ethics with AI: from Soft Law to Real Control through Contract and Code
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.35319/lawreview.202618134Keywords:
digital ethics, artificial intelligence, soft law, algorithmic governance, technological regulationAbstract
This article aims to analyze how artificial intelligence transforms ethics into an effective form of digital regulation. In the absence of a global normative framework, platforms embed moral principles into algorithms, terms of service, and technical architectures, turning values into mechanisms of behavioral control and raising the question of which morality effectively governs user behavior. Through a theoretical and legal-philosophical approach, based on doctrinal and normative analysis of soft law, contract law, and algorithmic governance, the article examines the transition from soft law to de facto coercive practices, where code and contract acquire normative force. Finally, it proposes a conceptual framework for ethical governance aimed at delineating current criteria of transparency, proportionality, and human oversight, contributing to the debate on ethics, power, and regulation in the algorithmic era.
Downloads
References
Abbott, K. W., Keohane, R. O., Moravcsik, A., Slaughter, A.-M., & Snidal, D (2000). The concept of legalization. International Organization, 54(3), 401–419. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0020818300442515
Barocas, S., & Selbst, A. D. (2016). Big data’s disparate impact. California Law Review, 104(3), 671–732. https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2477899
Ben-Shahar, O., & Schneider, C. E. (2010). The failure of mandated disclosure. University of Pennsylvania Law Review, 159(3), 647–749. https://scholarship.law.upenn.edu/penn_law_review/vol159/iss3/2/
Brink, D. O. (1989). Moral realism and the foundations of ethics. Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511624604
Buchanan, A. (2002). Political legitimacy and democracy. Ethics, 112(4), 689–719. https://doi.org/10.1086/340313
Buchanan, A., & Keohane, R. O. (2006). The legitimacy of global governance institutions. Ethics, 20(4), 405–437. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0892679400000207
Chouldechova, A. (2017). Fair prediction with disparate impact: A study of bias in recidivism prediction instruments. Big Data, 5(2), 153–163. https://doi.org/10.1089/big.2016.0047
Fuller, L. L. (1964). The morality of law. Yale University Press.
Gillespie, T. (2018). Custodians of the internet: Platforms, content moderation, and the hidden decisions that shape social media. Yale University Press.
Hardt, M., Price, E., & Srebro, N. (2016). Equality of opportunity in supervised learning. https://arxiv.org/abs/1610.02413
Hart, H. L. A. (1961). The concept of law. Oxford University Press. ISO/IEC. (2022).
Information technology—Artificial intelligence—Artificial intelligence concepts and terminology (ISO/IEC 22989:2022).
International Organization for Standardization. https://www.iso.org/standard/74296.html
Korsgaard, C. M. (1996). The sources of normativity. Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511554475
Kroll, J. A., Huey, J., Barocas, S., Felten, E. W., Reidenberg, J. R., Robinson, D. G., & Yu, H. (2017). Accountable algorithms. University of Pennsylvania Law Review, 165(3), 633–705. https://scholarship.law.upenn.edu/penn_law_review/vol165/iss3/3/
Lessig, L. (1999). Code and other laws of cyberspace. Basic Books.
Miller, A. (2013). Moral theory: An introduction. Wiley-Blackwell.
National Institute of Standards and Technology. (2023). Artificial intelligence risk management framework (AI RMF 1.0) (NIST AI 100-1). https://nvlpubs.nist.gov/nistpubs/ai/NIST.AI.100-1.pdf
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. (2019).
Recommendation of the Council on Artificial Intelligence (OECD/ LEGAL/0449). https://legalinstruments.oecd.org/en/instruments/OECD-LEGAL-0449
Radin, M. J. (2013). Boilerplate: The fine print, vanishing rights, and the rule of law. Princeton University Press.
Rawls, J. (2005). Political liberalism (Expanded ed.). Columbia University Press.
Raz, J. (1986). The morality of freedom. Oxford University Press.
Regulation (EU) 2022/2065 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 19 October 2022 on a Single Market for Digital Services (Digital Services Act). https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/reg/2022/2065/oj
Regulation (EU) 2024/1689 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 June 2024 laying down harmonised rules on artificial intelligence (Artificial Intelligence Act). (2024). Official Journal of the European Union. https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/reg/2024/1689/oj
Santa Clara Principles on Transparency and Accountability in Content Moderation. (2021). New America. https://www.newamerica.org/oti/reports/santa-clara-principles-transparency-and-accountability-content-moderation/
Schmidt, V. A. (2013). Democracy and legitimacy in the European Union revisited: Input, output and throughput. Political Studies, 61(1), 2–22. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9248.2012.00962.x
Shafer-Landau, R. (2003). Moral realism: A defence. Oxford University Press.
Specht v. Netscape Communications Corp., 306 F.3d 17 (2d Cir. 2002). https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/appellate-courts/F3/306/17/642323/
Suchman, M. C. (1995). Managing legitimacy: Strategic and institutional approaches. Academy of Management Review, 20(3), 571–610. https://doi.org/10.2307/258788
Suzor, N. (2019). Lawless: The secret rules that govern our digital lives. Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108697841
UNESCO. (2021). Recommendation on the ethics of artificial intelligence. https://www.unesco.org/en/artificial-intelligence/recommendation-ethics
van Leeuwen, T. (2008). Discourse and practice: New tools for critical discourse analysis. Oxford University Press.
Weber, M. (1978). Economy and society (G. Roth & C. Wittich, Eds.). University of California Press.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2026 UCB Law Review
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
The U.C.B. Law Review is an Open Access Journal, therefore, it is full free for access, reading, search, dowload, distribution and lawfull reuse in any medium only for non-comercial purposes, provided the original work is properly cited.
