Program Overview

Artificial Intelligence Ethics and Law in Business

Overview

The Artificial Intelligence Ethics and Law in Business course is designed to introduce students to the ethics and legal environment of AI, including the basic principles and guidelines and the present framework of these regulations.

Course Details

• ECTS: 5
• Form of instruction: Classroom instruction
• Form of examination: Take-home assignment (Assign)
• Language of instruction: English
• Level: Master
• Location: Aarhus

Course Content

Artificial intelligence (AI) development and application must provide human-centric and ethical operation, transparency, and respect for fundamental rights. This course concerns the application of the law and ethics to AI. It addresses such topics as AI and human rights, privacy protection (GDPR) and cybersecurity, responsibility and liability, non-discrimination, intellectual property, and safety rules.

Description of Qualifications

Knowledge

The students will acquire knowledge about:

• the social and economic functions of AI governance and legislation
• the basic functions of the main areas of law affecting technology, responsibility, safety
• the main features of the legal, economic and business mechanisms that can influence technology, responsibility, safety
• relevant approaches to illustrate the impact of regulators on certain questions of artificial intelligence methods from a risk assessment point
• aspects of the analysis of policy and regulation affecting artificial intelligence.

Skills

The students can:

• properly interpret and place rules in practice (human rights and privacy-related issues, transparency and explainability, liability)
• analyse the role, motivations and activities of economic actors and different stakeholders (users, consumers, developers, deployers, providers) from a legal and economic point of view
• analyse different artificial intelligence use cases from a regulatory aspect, especially considering the EU’s AI Act and other relevant regulations
• grasp a multi-faceted context system for modelling public policy strategy planning concerning the topic
• to critically analyse the benefits and risks of artificial intelligence from a legal and ethical perspective
• adopt as a starting point for implementing ethical and legal standards and requirements (apply ethics by design, regulatory by design, privacy by design approach).

Competencies

• Ability to evaluate and apply AI governance frameworks to ensure regulatory compliance and ethical standards.
• Proficiency in interpreting complex legal and ethical issues within AI and translating them into actionable guidance.
• Aptitude for analysing and mitigating legal, ethical, and economic risks associated with AI technologies.
• Skill in fostering collaboration among stakeholders to align AI strategies with regulatory and ethical expectations.
• Ability to synthesise and apply legal, economic, and social knowledge to support informed decision-making in AI governance and risk assessment.
• Competence in designing AI systems that incorporate ethical, regulatory, and privacy principles by design.

Examination

• Form of examination: Take-home assignment (Assign)
• Form of co-examination: No co-examination
• Assessment: 7-point grading scale
• Permitted exam aids: All

Requirements for Taking the Exam

In order to participate in the exam, there is an 80% attendance requirement.

Comments on the Form of Instruction

The pedagogical design combines lectures, classroom instruction, guided learning and group work. The lectures aim to introduce students to the main points of the course, while the classroom instruction aims to help students independently reflect upon and apply the content of the course in greater detail. Group work will focus on considering case studies and students will be divided into small groups for discussions.

Literature

• Almada, M., 2023. Regulation by Design and the Governance of Technological Futures. European Journal of Risk Regulation.
• Hacker, P., et al., 2023. Regulating Gatekeeper Artificial Intelligence and Data: Transparency, Access and Fairness under the Digital Markets Act, the General Data Protection Regulation and Beyond. European Journal of Risk Regulation.
• Koch, M., et al., 2022. A matter of definition: Criteria for digital ecosystems. Digital Business, 2(2).
• Finocchiaro, G., 2024. The regulation of artificial intelligence. AI & Society, 39.
• Papakonstantinou, V. & De Hert, P., 2022. The Regulation of Digital Technologies in the EU: The Law-Making Phenomena of 'Act-ification', 'GDPR Mimesis' and 'EU Law Brutality'. Technology and Regulation Journal.
• Yeung, K., Howes, A., & Pogrebna, G., 2020. AI Governance by Human Rights-Centred Design, Deliberation and Oversight: An End to Ethics Washing. In The Oxford Handbook of Ethics of AI. Oxford University Press.
• Judge, B., Nitzberg, M., & Russell, S., 2024. When code isn’t law: Rethinking regulation for artificial intelligence. Policy and Society.
• Hopster, J.K.G. & Maas, M.M., 2023. The technology triad: disruptive AI, regulatory gaps, and value change. AI Ethics.
• High-Level Expert Group on Artificial Intelligence (HLEG), 2019. Ethics guidelines for trustworthy AI.
• Lane, L., 2023. Artificial Intelligence and human rights: Corporate responsibility in AI governance initiatives. Volume 41.
• Schneider, J., Abraham, R., Meske, C., & Vom Brocke, J., 2023. Artificial intelligence governance for businesses. Information Systems Management, 40.
• Ebers, M., 2024. Truly risk-based regulation of artificial intelligence - How to implement the EU's AI Act. SSRN. Available at:
• Hupont, I., Fernández Llorca, D., Baldassarri, S., & Gómez, E., 2024. Use case cards: a use case reporting framework inspired by the European AI Act. Ethics and Information Technology, 26(19).
• European Agency for Fundamental Rights, 2022. Bias in algorithms – Artificial Intelligence and discrimination. Vienna.
• Borgesius, F.Z., Baranowska, N., Hacker, P., & Fabris, A., 2024. Non-discrimination law in Europe: a primer for non-lawyers. Computers and Society.
• Malgieri, G., & Pasquale, F., 2024. Licensing high-risk artificial intelligence: Toward ex ante justification for a disruptive technology. Computer Law & Security Review.
• Schuett, J., 2024. Risk management in the artificial intelligence act. European Journal of Risk Regulation, 15.
• Enqvist, L., 2023. ‘Human oversight’ in the EU artificial intelligence act: what, when and by whom? Law, Innovation and Technology, 15(2).
• Gamito, M.C. & Marsden, C.T., 2024. Artificial intelligence co-regulation? The role of standards in the EU AI Act. International Journal of Law and Information Technology, 2024(1).
• Novelli, C., Casolari, F., Hacker, P., Spedicato, G., & Floridi, L., 2024. Generative AI in EU law: Liability, privacy, intellectual property, and cybersecurity. Computer Law & Security Review.
• Gille, M., Tropmann-Frick, M., & Schomacker, T., 2024. Balancing public interest, fundamental rights, and innovation: The EU’s governance model for non-high-risk AI systems. Internet Policy Review, 13(3). Available at:
• Migliorini, S., 2024. “More than words”: A legal approach to the risks of commercial chatbots powered by generative artificial intelligence. European Journal of Risk Regulation.
• Moreno, F.R., 2024. Generative AI and deepfakes: A human rights approach to tackling harmful content. International Review of Law, Computers & Technology, 38(3).
• Metikoš, L., & Ausloos, J., 2024. The right to an explanation in practice: Insights from case law for the GDPR and the AI Act. Forthcoming in Law, Innovation, and Technology, 17(2). Available at:
• Malte, S., & Denga, M., 2024. The international reach of EU copyright through the AI Act. Halle Series on Transnational Economic.
• Mezei, P., 2024. A saviour or a dead end? Reservation of rights in the age of generative AI. European Intellectual Property Review, 46(7).
• Commission Staff, 2024. Working document fitness check of EU consumer law on digital fairness.

Re-exam

• Re-exam: written take-home exam (max. 36.000 characters including spaces).
• The dates for the first retake are: 27th October .00 noon: You will receive your exam question via WISEflow. 3rd November noon: Deadline for submitting via WISEflow.
• The dates for the second retake are: January 30th .00 noon: You will receive your exam question via WISEflow. February 6th .00 noon: Deadline for submitting via WISEflow.

Information about Courses at Aarhus University

• Support: Inquiry about this course: Department of Economics and Business Economics
• Course registration for students at Aarhus University: Registration for courses takes place in Student Self-Service. Sign in via mystudies.au.dk.
• Credit module: If you are studying for a university degree, you can replace some of the compulsory or elective courses in your degree programme with individual courses from Aarhus University. Read more about credit modules.
• Continuing and further education: Read more about how you can take a single-subject course under the vacant place scheme on au.dk/evu (in Danish).
• Exchange and vacant place scheme: Under "Course type" you can search for courses that are available under the exchange or vacant place scheme. Please note that this does not guarantee admission to the course.