Algorithmic Administration and the EU AI Act: Legal Principles for Public Sector Use of AI

TL;DR

This paper analyzes how the EU AI Act interacts with administrative law principles, focusing on accountability, transparency, and proportionality in public sector AI deployment.

Contribution

It offers a legal analysis of the EU AI Act's implications for administrative law and proposes safeguards for lawful AI use in the public sector.

Findings

The AI Act imposes specific obligations on high-risk public sector AI systems.

The Act's risk-based approach may not fully align with proportionality principles.

Safeguards are proposed to enhance accountability and transparency.

Abstract

The increasing use of artificial intelligence (AI) by public authorities introduces both opportunities for innovation and significant challenges for the administrative rule of law. This article examines how the EU AI Act interacts with the fundamental principles of administrative law, with a particular focus on administrative discretion, the duty to state reasons, and proportionality. It analyses the regulatory obligations imposed by the AI Act on public sector deployers of high-risk systems, especially in sensitive domains such as social benefits, migration, education, and law enforcement. It also explores whether the AI Act adequately ensures accountability, transparency, and reviewability in automated public decision-making. The article further considers how the AI Act's risk-based approach aligns (or fails to align) with the principle of proportionality and it proposes safeguards and interpretative strategies to ensure the ethical and lawful deployment of AI in the public sector.