In September 2020, Oxford University Press published The Oxford Handbook of Ethics and AI. This work comprises 44 different contributions divided in five sections and is edited by Markus D. Dubber, Professor of Law & Criminology and Director of the Centre for Ethics, University of Toronto, Frank Pasquale, Piper & Marbury Professor of Law, University of Maryland, and Sunit Das, Associate Professor in the Department of Surgery, University of Toronto.

According to the three editors, “the approach to the ethics of AI that runs through this handbook is contextual in four senses:

• it locates ethical analysis of artificial intelligence in the context of other modes of normative analysis, including legal, regulatory, philosophical, and policy approaches,
• it interrogates artificial intelligence within the context of related modes of technological innovation, including machine learning, Big Data, and robotics,
• it is interdisciplinary from the ground up, broadening the conversation about the ethics of artificial intelligence beyond computer science and related fields to include other fields of scholarly endeavor, including the social sciences, humanities, and the professions (law, medicine, engineering, etc.), and
• it invites critical analysis of all aspects of—and participants in—the wide and continuously expanding artificial intelligence complex, from production to commercialization to consumption, from technical experts to venture capitalists to self-regulating professionals to government officials to the general public” (Dubber, Pasquale, Das, 2020).

One of the most relevant contributions is authored by Harry Surden, Associate Professor of Law at the University of Colorado Law School (https://lawweb.colorado.edu/profiles/profile.jsp?id=316). His work, ‘The Ethics of Artificial Intelligence in Law: Basic Questions’, is centered around the question of the integration between artificial intelligence and legal system and – within this integration – what is the role of society in guaranteeing core legal values.

His work, available via SSRN (https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3441303), begins by focusing on the core issues of the integration between artificial intelligence in law:

“Ethical issues surrounding AI use in law often share a common theme. As AI becomes increasingly integrated within the legal system, how can society ensure that core legal values are preserved? This reflects the idea that most democracies consider certain values to be central to how their legal systems operate. Among the most important of these legal values are: equal treatment under the law; public, unbiased, and independent adjudication of legal disputes; justification and explanation for legal outcomes; legal results arising from law, principle, and facts rather than social status or power; outcomes premised upon reasonable and socially justifiable grounds; the ability to appeal decisions and seek independent review; procedural fairness and due process; fairness in design and application of the law; public promulgation of laws; transparency in legal substance and process; adequate access to justice for all; integrity and honesty in creation and application of law; and judicial, legislative, and administrative efficiency[1]”. (Surden, 2019)

Surden’s whole contribution can be downloaded here https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3441303, while the handbook is available via Oxford University Press (https://global.oup.com/academic/product/the-oxford-handbook-of-ethics-of-ai-9780190067397?cc=it&lang=en&#).