Research

Reformed Constitutionalism for Fair and Sustainable Algorithmic Society (ConAlgo) project

This project, Reformed Constitutionalism for Fair and Sustainable Algorithmic Society (ConAlgo), is dedicated to the examination of the status, role, object, purpose and reform of constitutionalism in algorithmic society by way of answering one central and four case-study related research questions.

The main research question is:

How to reform constitutionalism in all of its three dimensions (the legal-institutional, the socio-political and the philosophical dimension) so that it will keep performing its normative functions in a fair and sustainable algorithmic society in the late post-modernity governed by AI?

This question is highly original because it is completely different from the mainstream question of how to regulate AI. Rather than focusing on the regulatory challenge posed by the AI, which is admittedly very important and has consequently already received a lot of academic attention, the question of the conceptual challenge of the AI to the existing theories and practices of constitutionalism has remained almost unexplored.

This research will therefore combine a profound theoretical examination of the general contours of conventional constitutionalism with four concrete case studies that will, on one end, demonstrate how the conventional building blocks of constitutionalism have come under strain in the algorithmic society and how, on the other end, theoretical and practical solutions could be developed to respond to these challenges.

The main research question, which is methodologically deliberately pitted at a high abstract, conceptual level, will, accordingly, be supplemented and henceforth operationalized through four additional research sub-questions pertaining to specific more concrete case-studies.

1. How does AI impact on human dignity, as the supreme value of modern constitutionalism, and how could constitutionalism be reformed to enhance human dignity in a sustainable and fair algorithmic society?
2. How does AI impact on the right to good governance, with a special emphasis on the regulatory activity of the legislative and executive branches, and how could constitutionalism be reformed to enhance good governance in a sustainable and fair algorithmic society?
3. How does AI impact on the right to judicial protection and how could constitutionalism be reformed to enhance the administration of justice in a sustainable and fair algorithmic society?
4. How does AI impact on the right to conduct business and how could constitutionalism be reformed to ensure the right balance between the free, profit-driven economic activity and welfare state in a sustainable and fair algorithmic society?

Goals

The project pursues five important, transdisciplinary research objectives (RO) of extreme theoretical and practical relevance.

RO1 – Conceptualization: developing a new constitutional theory for algorithmic society in late post-modernity governed by AI against the backdrop of four case-studies.

RO2 – Application: testing a hence developed constitutional theory on four case-studies.

RO3 – Modelling: establishing systemic constitutional normative predictions, forecasts and proposals for policy and institutional reform in a medium and long-term perspective.

RO4 – Academic implementation: open-science publishing of original scientific article and integrating new knowledge into the academic curriculum of the New University.

RO5 – Public dissemination: organizing high-level conferences, Academic forums of the New University, ad-hoc transdisciplinary advisory bodies whose findings will be promoted on the Youtube and LinkedIn channels attached to the project’s website.

Research project is supported by Slovenian Research and Innovation Agency ARIS, No. J5-60087.