Digital Trade Law in the Age of AI: Rebalancing Openness and Control

Digital trade rulemaking has intensified in the past few years, driven, among others, by the goals of unlocking the economic potential of digitalization in trade and promoting open and interoperable global digital markets. This is reflected in the expanding scope of regional and bilateral trade agreements that include dedicated digital trade chapters. Yet, the current paradigm of digital trade rulemaking is likely to be contested by the rapid acceleration of artificial intelligence (AI), which itself unfolds against a backdrop of increased geopolitical tension, where considerations of technological sovereignty take center stage. This raises tensions between the goals of maintaining open, interoperable digital markets and asserting greater regulatory, economic, and technological control over the AI value chain.

The ‘Trade Law 4.0 project Workshop’, co-organised by the University of Zurich, and the University of Lucerne will be dedicated to the future of digital trade law in the age of AI. It intends to examine this tension, identify the ways in which digital trade is adapting to AI, and explore how this interaction will unfold in the upcoming years.

Diplo’s Marilia Maciel will speak in the panel ‘Geopolitical background for reconsidering digital trade in the age of AI’.

Link to registrations: https://www.dsi.uzh.ch/de/current/events/digital-trade-age-of-ai.html

Related actors:

Related people: Marília Maciel

AI Accountability and Digital Trade: Policy Options for the UK

Everyday interactions are mediated by algorithms, with significant impacts for the individual, economies, and wider society. The AI-as-a-service global market is growing rapidly, and governments are struggling to regulate this phenomenon effectively. Discussions are siloed, fragmented nationally, and isolated from international trade policy discussions. The workshops will bring together researchers with legal, trade and technical expertise to build a shared understanding of the opportunities for and barriers to the examination of algorithms in the context of a rapidly growing global market for AI-as-a-service.