Autonomy, Control and Responsibility
Artificial intelligence and machine decision-making are fundamentally changing law and society. While these technologies offer immense opportunities for more efficient decisions, they simultaneously pose risks to individual freedoms and raise profound questions about legitimacy.
Although there is a growing wealth of literature on the specific consequences of AI, there has been a critical lack of systematic investigation into how machine decision-making affects the fundamental functions of law in modern societies and the role of legal scholarship.
To mark the end of its first year of research, the DFG Research Unit 5906 is addressing exactly this gap. The conference, taking place from 11th to 12th March 2027 in Münster, will focus on the core concepts of autonomy, control and responsibility. Connecting research questions will be analysed beyond traditional disciplinary boundaries, fostering an interdisciplinary exchange with computer science, philosophy, sociology and economics.
The research unit is looking forward to contributions from the following international experts:
- Mareike Schmidt, University of Hamburg
- Ignacio Cofone, University of Oxford
- Sille Obelitz Søe, University of Copenhagen
- Mareile Kaufmann, University of Oslo
- Miriam Buiten, University of St. Gallen
Beyond the aforementioned contributions, the conference program will feature further presentations from early-career researchers. Our Call for Papers is currently open until 30th September 2026.
If you have any questions, please contact the research unit's spokesperson, Prof. Dr. Stefan Arnold, LLM. (Cambridge): stefan.arnold@uni-muenster.de.