This research examines the broader implications of current global (geo)political dynamics on AI standardisation and how, in turn, standardisation shapes those dynamics. Focusing on the European Union's AI Act, it is argued that the Regulation's reliance on delegated technical standards embeds structural and context-dependent vulnerabilities that constrain its ability to project normative influence.
Through insights from the political economy of standardisation, this presentation will explore the interactions between EU and non-EU aspirations and expectations from standards. It contrasts the approaches of the EU, the US and China and highlights the operational and normative frictions that arise in standard-setting. The findings show an important gap between the EU's regulatory ambitions and the realities of the global standardisation ecosystem, which ultimately raises questions about the long-term coherence and influence of the AI Act in shaping the global AI value chain. This project is part of a broader personal research agenda that looks at authority and normativity of private actors in tech regulation and governance.
Speaker bio:
Marta Cantero Gamito is Professor of IT law at the University of Tartu. She is also Visiting Fellow at the Florence School of Transnational Governance (EUI). She previously worked at the London School of Economics and Political Science, CUNEF Universidad, and the University of Helsinki. Marta obtained her PhD degree at the EUI and investigates the regulation and governance of technology, with a focus on transnational private regulation and standardisation. Her research aims to evaluate the suitability and identify the limitations of private regulation and governance for addressing contemporary problems that affect social values and fundamental rights. She has published several articles on telecommunications, digital platforms, standardisation, and artificial intelligence. Marta has co-edited books on Algorithmic Governance and Governance of Algorithms (Springer, 2020), The role of the EU in Transnational Legal Ordering: Standards, Contracts, and Codes (Edward Elgar, 2020), and The Transformation of Economic Law (Hart, 2019).
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