The Threat of Algorithmic Rule by Law
Professor Dr Nathalie Smuha (KU Leuven)
Notes & Changes
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About the event
Public authorities are increasingly turning to algorithmic regulation, or the use of algorithmic systems to apply and enforce the law. Their adoption of algorithmic regulation tends to be motivated by the desire to improve public services and to better fulfil citizens’ rights, thus seemingly contributing to the rule of law. However, in practice, many use cases have demonstrated how reliance on algorithmic systems can undermine the law’s protective power and instead lead to rule by law. This risk is hence neither hypothetical, nor limited to authoritarian regimes. In Europe, the creation of the European Union's AI Act offered a beacon of hope to address this concern, yet EU legislators ultimately failed to take it into account in their regulation.
In this talk, Nathalie Smuha therefore argues that there is a significant misalignment between the EU's digital agenda and its rule of law agenda, which urgently needs to be addressed to counter the threat of algorithmic rule by law.
About our speaker
Nathalie A Smuha is a legal scholar and philosopher at the KU Leuven Faculty of Law and Criminology. Her scholarship lies at the intersection of law, philosophy and technology, with a particular focus on how AI and digital technologies impact human rights, democracy and the rule of law. Prof Smuha is the author of Algorithmic Rule By Law: How Algorithmic Regulation in the Public Sector Erodes the Rule of Law and the editor ofThe Cambridge Handbook of the Law, Ethics and Policy of Artificial Intelligence (both published with Cambridge University Press, 2025). She has taken up adjunct professorships at NYU Law School and Columbia Law School, and held visiting positions at Oxford University, the University of Chicago and the University of Birmingham.
Besides her academic activities, Prof Smuha regularly advises governments and international organizations on AI policy. Previously, she worked at the European Commission, where she coordinated the work of the European Commission’s High-Level Expert Group on AI and contributed to Europe’s AI policy. She was also a scientific expert in the Council of Europe’s (Ad Hoc) Committee on AI, contributed to UNESCO’s work on AI and education, and is part of the OECD’s Network of Experts on AI. Prior to her academic turn, she worked in private practice as a member of the New York Bar and the Brussels Bar. Prof Smuha holds BA and MA degrees in both law and philosophy from KU Leuven, a PhD in Law from KU Leuven, and an LL.M. from the University of Chicago.