Artificial Intelligence (AI) is omnipresent in public discourse across the world. For every social ill or need there appears to be an AI solution ready to revolutionise the way we control borders, conduct war, deliver social services, or simply find what we are looking for on Google or Amazon. On the other hand, the sharp progresses of AI capabilities have been accompanied by a growing recognition of the need to proactively address its societal implications and legal ramifications in keeping with contemporary international law.

This discourse over AI also reflects the unabated discussion of the role of science in our legal discipline. Today, science is readily instrumental to tackling with global problems that cause irreversible consequences, first and foremost, climate change. Scientific expertise is also increasingly needed in international litigation, since cases having to deal with complex scientific questions are on the rise.

At the same time, the multiple uses of data can facilitate global progress but simultaneously might undermine multiple human rights (i.e. right to life, privacy, equality). In addition, the advent of the “fake news” phenomenon and the multiplication of information sources, which transform the notion of informed citizen and call upon international law to function effectively vis-à-vis narratives and policies that might reject its own premises.

The recent evacuation of Afghanistan by US (coalition) forces (deficient intelligence/blocking of news/failure of technology in US bombing) or the protracted negotiations on climate change actions (challenging climate change/use of data and science in negotiations and judicial processes) illustrate how AI, science, data and information create a brave new world for international law, a thick layer of new constants that must be accommodated by it and employed for humanity’s advancement.

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