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Håkan Hydén appears in China to speak about digital technology’s effect on law

Håkan Hydén's presentation live streamed on a big screen in Shanghai

The Senior Professor featured at the Rule of Law Forum of the 2020 World Artificial Intelligence Conference in Shanghai.

On July 10, as Håkan Hydén, Senior Professor in Sociology of Law, gave his presentation from his home office in Lund, the organisers at the China Justice Big Data Institute projected him on a massive screen somewhere in Shanghai.

Hyden’s presentation focused on how digital technology in general, and artificial intelligence in particular, affect the rule of law. Digital technological development, such as the evolution of digital currencies and autonomous cars, is forcing law to consider novel phenomena. “There is nothing, however, which until now has required new legal solutions,” Hydén said. “It is more a question of bringing new phenomena under established legal principles.”

Hydén predicts that digital technology is likely have greater impact on the rule of law in the future, such as with the development of advanced robotics. “Should robots be recognized as legal persons?  How about liability regarding robots fulfilling human like services? These are examples of questions with so far no firm answers, but, there are legal principles at hand.”

Hydén is currently studying and comparing legal norms, other norms in society and cyber norms. Part of his research covers the challenges of extending legal concepts beyond the established legal understanding when dealing with new to new technology.


Read more about Håkan Hydén and his research on his personal page.