Mission
Promoting AI that respects EU values through research, training, and public dialogue.
the development of artificial intelligence
A Centre of Excellence
The Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence ReCEPL4STAI project is fully aligned with the European strategy for AI, pursuing the objective of providing European law with updated methodological tools to govern the development of artificial intelligence and to promote its sustainable, trustworthy and compliant-by-design deployment, in line with the fundamental values of the European Union.
active since 2016
The ReCEPL Centre
The project builds on the experience of the ReCEPL Centre, active since 2016 in developing numerous research initiatives dedicated to the study of the interaction between law and new technologies, and one of the first Italian institutions engaged in fostering applied legal research in this field.
The ReCEPL4STAI aims to define a methodological framework that can be replicated at European and international level, capable of offering operational guidance for AI governance, promoting dialogue among academia, industry, institutions and civil society, and contributing to the development of a European innovation space grounded in legal certainty and technological sustainability.
FOCUS
Three domains
The analysis focuses on three paradigmatic application domains, selected for their social relevance and potential impact on fundamental rights:
STRUCTURE
The Plan
The project’s operational plan is organised into four closely interconnected Work Packages:
WP1
WP1 ensures the management, coordination and monitoring of the entire project cycle, ensuring coherence, quality and timely delivery across all work packages.
WP2
WP2 is dedicated to research activities, delivering an open-access e-book, three scientific articles, and establishing the Co-LABorative Observatory on AI, a permanent infrastructure for legal-STEM cooperation.
WP3
WP3 develops teaching activities, strengthening existing curricula with new hybrid methodologies and implementing an incoming and outgoing visiting-fellowship programme to spread the international dissemination of the developed models.
WP4
WP4 covers impact and dissemination: launching the international network NetSIL (Network of Sustainability and Innovation Law), holding three annual hybrid conferences, running EJPLT under open science, and managing the project website and social-media channels.
STRUCTURE
Project specifications
1. Objective:
The ReCEPL4STAI project directly contributes to the implementation of the European Strategy for AI by promoting sustainable and trustworthy artificial intelligence within the future Common European Data Spaces, conceived as a driving force of the digital economy in the EU Single Market. To this end, the Centre integrates legal and STEM expertise to design and monitor two key methodological concepts:
Risk assessment
Risk assessment of AI technologies with respect to EU values, to support political and institutional authorities, as well as businesses, in the development of AI policies;
Human-in-the-loop mechanisms
Implementation of human-in-the-loop mechanisms within AI systems, with a view to enhancing data quality, transparency and the intelligibility of automated decision-making processes.
The project aims to address the main challenges emerging within the European regulatory framework on artificial intelligence. In this regard, the following specific objectives are pursued:
Models
Develop analytical and governance models for AI applied to three key sectors: AI in legal and judicial systems, AI-based automation (particularly in transport and mobility), and AI applications in brain research and cognitive technologies.
Framework
Strengthen the clarity and coordination of the European regulatory framework on AI, overcoming fragmentation between general and sectoral regulations and providing methodological guidance useful to both legal experts and engineers in the development and use of AI technologies.
Dialogue
Promote interdisciplinary and transnational dialogue among academia, industry, public institutions and civil society to foster improved understanding and implementation of European AI policies.
Fundamental rights
Increase public awareness of the legal, ethical and social impacts of AI, with particular attention to risks to fundamental rights, democracy and the values of the European Union.
Through these objectives, the project seeks to contribute a more reliable, sustainable and fundamental-rights-respecting European artificial intelligence ecosystem by design.
2. Innovative character and added value:
The project aims to develop a methodological framework that can be replicated at both European and international levels, capable of:
These objectives are pursued through the analysis of case studies in strategic sectors and the involvement of national and international stakeholders.
In this way, ReCEPL4STAI helps to strengthen Europe’s role as a global benchmark in the development of artificial intelligence that is trustworthy, sustainable and compliant with fundamental rights.