Publications

Foundation models and generative artificial intelligence (AI) exacerbate a core regulatory challenge associated with AI: its heterogeneity. By their very nature, foundation models and generative AI can perform multiple functions for their users, thus presenting a vast array of different risks. This multifunctionality means that prescriptive, one-size-fits-all regulation will not be a viable option. Even performance standards and ex post liability— regulatory approaches that usually afford flexibility—are unlikely to be strong candidates for responding to multifunctional AI’s risks, given challenges in monitoring and enforcement. Regulators will do well instead to promote proactive risk management on the part of developers and users by using management-based regulation, an approach that has proven effective in other contexts of heterogeneity. Regulators will also need to maintain ongoing vigilance and agility. More than in other contexts, regulators of multifunctional AI will need sufficient resources, top human talent and leadership, and organizational cultures committed to regulatory excellence.

Over the last twenty-five years, the Member States of the EU and the UK have introduced freedom of information acts, various types of Ombudsman, impact assessment of legislative proposals, and stakeholders consultation procedures. The aim of regulatory reform is both to improve on substantive regulatory quality and to impact on final governance outcomes. This book explains when and how the design of regulatory procedures has effects on the quality of the business environment, perception of corruption, and environmental performance. The findings shatter predominant views on policy change in Europe, and offer a varied, detailed, granular account of the efficacy of regulatory design.

Da tempo, le pubbliche amministrazioni fanno uso di tecnologie digitali, compresa l’intelligenza artificiale, nello svolgimento delle proprie funzioni. Tale fenomeno – unito all’impianto normativo di derivazione europea, volto a normare i processi di transizione digitale – impone un ripensamento dei principi e delle garanzie finora individuati dalla dottrina e dalla giurisprudenza e ispirati ai regimi giuridici tradizionali del diritto amministrativo. Il volume, muovendo dall’esame degli utilizzi attuali delle tecnologie digitali da parte dei pubblici poteri, ne ricostruisce le possibili nuove regole.

Abstract Contemporary politics require a swift and responsive policy-making approach to respond to emergency situations quickly and to anticipate them in a strategic manner. Maintaining decision-making agility in times of urgency makes it necessary to think ahead of stress-impacting situations. To increase systemic resilience, policies must be designed in an adaptive way. Strategic options, futurity of policies and potential futures must be elaborated and kept in sight when developing policies. Anticipatory governance and strategic foresight activities are elements of such an adaptive governance mode. To transform decision-making in a future-oriented way, these forward-planning elements need to be institutionalised to support governance resilience. This article asks how anticipatory governance and strategic foresight are embedded within EU multilevel governance. It investigates the EU Better Regulation Agenda to understand how anticipatory governance already contributes to EU governance. Additionally, it discusses how the institutionalisation of strategic foresight can contribute to EU anticipatory governance.