AI Writes Laws: It's Not Science Fiction, It's Already Reality in Dubai
Dubai experiments with artificial intelligence to draft legislation. This innovation raises crucial questions about justice, transparency, and algorithmic oversight.
If you were told that from now on laws will be written by artificial intelligence, would you immediately think of a Black Mirror-style dystopia? Yet, in Dubai, it has already begun. The United Arab Emirates has launched a pioneering initiative to involve AI in legislative processes, claiming it will be possible to automatically generate draft regulations, assess their impact, and simplify the language to make it accessible to all citizens.
An announcement that shakes, fascinates, and makes one think. Can an algorithm really write laws? And if so, who controls it?
What is AI legislative drafting and how does it work
Writing a law is a complex process: it requires legal expertise, balancing conflicting interests, and the ability to foresee consequences. Traditionally, it is an exclusive activity of the human legislator, supported by jurists, experts, and officials. But AI is changing the rules of the game.
In Dubai, the idea is to use advanced language models (similar to ChatGPT) to analyze existing texts, identify redundancies, and formulate new rules based on social, economic, or technological needs. AI can:
- generate a draft regulation consistent with the existing legal framework;
- suggest amendments based on predictive scenarios;
- translate the text into simplified language for citizens;
- simulate the impact of laws on different sectors and social groups.
The project was announced as part of the "UAE Coders" strategy and aims to transform Dubai into the world's first jurisdiction by AI design. Foreign Policy
Artificial intelligence and governance: a risky pairing?
The use of AI in regulatory production opens extraordinary perspectives: greater speed, less linguistic ambiguity, control over normative contradictions. AI can also help make the law more "neutral," eliminating certain human biases. But is it really that simple?
No. Algorithms are not immune to bias: on the contrary, if trained on legislative texts full of distortions (historical discrimination, sexist or exclusionary norms), they will tend to replicate or amplify them. And there's more: who controls the model? Who determines which laws it is based on? Who decides which parameters to use to say "this is a good rule"?
The danger is that the law loses its human, cultural, historical component and becomes a technical-calculated product, perhaps even manipulable by those with access to the algorithm.
Dubai as a global experiment: what changes (and for whom)
The Dubai case is not an isolated one: Estonia, Canada, and the United Kingdom are also exploring ways to integrate AI into regulatory processes, especially at the local level. But the Emirates are the first to make it an explicit political project.
For a highly centralized and pro-technology state like Dubai, AI can be seen as a tool for efficiency. But in democratic and pluralistic contexts, the use of AI in law-writing raises even deeper questions: is it compatible with representation? With parliamentary debate? With public oversight?
This initiative could turn into a laboratory for the future: algorithmic, automated justice, but also potentially more accessible. Or it could become a dangerous precedent if used to reinforce authoritarian or opaque models.
What if in the future all laws were written by AI?
We are at a crossroads: to use AI as a support tool (which simplifies, analyzes, assists), or to delegate fundamental creative and decision-making functions to it.
The real challenge will be to find a balance: an AI in the service of human justice, not the other way around. Because a law, to be legitimate, must be understandable, shared, and contestable. And it must be born from a living society, not from a statistical prediction.
Conclusion: an ethics of algorithmic writing is needed
The Dubai case forces us to come to terms with an uncomfortable question: do we want algorithms to tell us what is right? While on one hand AI can improve the functioning of institutions, on the other it can become a tool of concentrated power, difficult to scrutinize.
To explore these implications further, I also recommend the article Etica dell’Intelligenza Artificiale: Perché ci riguarda tutti, which addresses the relationship between technology and social justice.
A new ethics of legislation is needed, one that takes technology into account but does not lose sight of humanity.