Artificial Intelligence and International Economic Law: A Research and Policy Agenda

Abstract

As the framing chapter of a forthcoming volume on Artificial Intelligence and International Economic Law, this paper introduces three cross-cutting themes that illustrate the relationship between artificial intelligence (AI) and international economic law (IEL): disruption, regulation, and reconfiguration. We explore the theme of disruption along the trifecta of AI-related technological, economic, and legal change. We observe that the increasing adoption of AI leads to political, economic, and social pressures across jurisdictions and levels of governance. Policy makers and stakeholders engage in different governance venues to debate regulatory design choices: whether to regulate, why to regulate, when to regulate, whom or what to regulate, how to regulate, and who should regulate? We argue that IEL is increasingly shaping and influencing the regulatory discourse around AI and vice versa. In this context, we explore the extent to which IEL is being reconfigured and examine the need for further reconfiguration. We conclude by bringing the contributions we assembled in this volume into conversation with one another and identify topics that warrant further research.

Keywords: international economic law, artificial intelligence, disruption, regulation, reconfiguration, trade, WTO, data, e-commerce, technology, governance

JEL Classification: F02, F13, F60, L50, O30, O33, O34, O38, L86