Soft law as a complement to AI regulation

While soft law has been applied in many fields, John Villasenor argues in a piece for the Brookings Institute, there are multiple reasons why it is particularly well suited for AI.

First, the rapid pace of development of AI exceeds by far the capability of any traditional regulatory system to keep up.

A second reason soft law is suitable for AI is the sheer complexity of the landscape. According to him it would make no sense—financially, logistically, or in terms of staffing— to task one or more government agencies with the rulemaking and oversight extensive enough to cover all of the many applications and industries where AI will be used.

He offers an overview of the main available initiatives here.

This content has been updated on 10 February 2022 at 16 h 10 min.