Speaker

Mireille Hildebrandt (Vrije Universiteit Brussel / Radboud University)

Title: The Abstraction Fallacy in Law

Abstract: Alexander Lerchner (DeepMind) wrote an interesting paper on how computational systems relate to human experience, taking a deep dive into what he calls mistaking the map for the territory, while hiding the mapmaker. In this keynote Hildebrandt will discuss the implications of cascading abstraction levels when writing legal norms as executable code, engaging with prediction of judgments or practising ‘distant writing’ of legal text (in the context of legislation, case law or legal doctrine). In that light she will discuss the difference between performance metrics and benchmark testing that is focused on verification on the one hand and real-world falsifiability on the other. This connects with the idea that to count as science we need falsifiable theories from which we can deduce hypothesis that allow for inductive testing. At the same time, the difference between computational metrics and real-world testing links with one of the core tenets of the rule of law, notably the contestability of legally relevant decision-making. Hildebrandt will end with proposing three questions that must be answered before purchasing and deploying NLLP systems or models in law, requiring in-depth collaboration between developers and domain experts.

Bio: Mireille Hildebrandt is a lawyer and legal philosopher who investigates the implications of artificial intelligence and automated decision-making for law and the rule of law. Her work examines the assumptions of computer science and the constraints that shape the development of computing systems. Her research sits at the nexus of philosophy of law and philosophy of technology, with close attention to both positive law and computer science. For eight years she has taught law to master’s students in computer science, an experience reflected in her open access textbook Law for Computer Scientists and Other Folk (Oxford University Press). From 2019 to 2024 she was Principal Investigator of the ERC Advanced Grant project COHUBICOL (“Counting as a Human Being in the Era of Computational Law”), which developed a new hermeneutics for computational law. She is also founding editor, with Laurence Diver, of the Journal of Cross-Disciplinary Research in Computational Law (CRCL), where Frank Pasquale serves as co-editor-in-chief.