AI Law and Policy in Asia (LAWS90299)

The advent of artificial intelligence (AI) has heralded a new era of industrial and technological revolution, fundamentally altering the socio-economic and legal landscapes across the globe, with profound implications in Asia.    

AI’s rapid and deep penetration into various sectors, including education, finance, manufacturing, transportation, social welfare, law enforcement, and healthcare, underscores its transformative potential. However, this transformation is accompanied by controversies and concerns, particularly around privacy, autonomy, equality and fairness, ethical dilemma, labour rights, and due process protections. The use of AI in government functions, its potential to exacerbate existing inequalities and discrimination, and the opaque nature of AI systems pose critical questions about accountability, justice, and human rights in the age of data-driven economy. 

This subject is designed to navigate the multifaceted legal, ethical, and policy challenges arising from the pervasive integration of AI technologies in society, with a focus on contextualising how Asian jurisdictions—particularly China, Japan, Taiwan, and Singapore—perceive and respond to the challenges posed by AI, and whether and how they interact through regulatory competition, learning, and cross-referencing.  Focusing on the diverse legal systems and practices of selected East Asian countries, this subject explores the critical legal and policy challenges of AI and how governments are experimenting to shape the optimal institutional design for AI governance. Students will engage with issues such as data protection and privacy concerns, algorithmic bias, autonomous vehicles, the opacity of AI systems (“black box” problem), and the use of AI in criminal justice systems and its due process considerations.   

Indicative list of principal topics:

• Introduction: Theories and Framework on Regulating Emerging Technologies 
• Mapping the Legal and Ethical Challenges of AI 
• Automated Vehicles, Ethical Dilemma, and Regulatory Experiments 
• Algorithmic Bias, Fairness, and the Use of AI in the Criminal Justice System 
• Data-driven Social Control and the Rule of Law 
• Regulatory Initiatives in Asia: China, Japan, Taiwan, and Singapore 
• Global AI Governance: Juxtaposing Asian, the US, and the EU 

Intended learning outcomes

A student who has successfully completed this subject should be able to: 

• Explore the foundational theories of and approaches to regulating emerging technologies, and critically assess their implications for AI's various development and applications, paving the way for contextual and comparative analysis in Asia and beyond;
• Critically analyse the legal and ethical dimensions of AI technologies and their societal impact across sectors by identifying and scrutinising major issues, such as algorithmic bias, data protection and privacy, automated law enforcement and social credit systems, robo-judge and due process, and AI's impact on human rights;
• Appraise the assess the current regulatory landscape in Asia and other major economies, drawing parallels across different regulatory frameworks and legal systems to appreciate regulatory preferences and strategies across jurisdictions based on diverse social, political, and economic underpinnings;
• Compare and contrast regulatory models of AI governance, explore the diverse approaches to AI governance in East Asian jurisdictions (particularly China, Japan, Taiwan, and Singapore), and discern how legal origins/systems and practices influence regulatory responses and institutional designs.

Generic skills

• Be well-prepared to contribute to the evolving discourse on AI law and policy, with a particular focus on the unique contexts and challenges in Asia;
• Have the knowledge and analytical tools necessary to navigate the legal complexities of AI and advocate for responsible use of trustworthy technologies; and
• Participate in shaping the future of AI governance.