Network for Artificial Intelligence & Law (NAIL)
The Hamburg Network for AI & Law (NAIL) is a joint venture between Professor Christoph Kumpan (Bucerius Law School) and Professor Georg Ringe (Universität Hamburg). The network is a platform for academic exchange and joint research projects in the area of AI and law. At the same time, the network facilitates dialogue and engagement with the wider public.
Artificial Intelligence is a fast evolving technology that holds the promise of a wide range of economic and societal benefits across the entire spectrum of our economy. AI is said to improve prediction processes, to optimise operations and resource allocation, and to personalise service delivery. Thereby, the use of AI may support socially beneficial outcomes and provide substantial welfare gains to firms and households alike. However, the same elements and techniques that power the socio-economic benefits of AI can also bring about new risks or negative consequences for individuals or the society. It is this ambivalence of AI which provides a challenging task for regulators and, ultimately, calls for a nuanced approach.
NAIL is dedicated to exploring those regulatory challenges, and to provide a forum for research, discussion, and outreach. Besides its two academic leaders, NAIL involves a number of doctoral students with a background in law, economics, and computer science.
About once a month during the academic year, we hold a research seminar involving leading academics, policy makers and industry experts. This seminar series is kindly supported by the Zeit-Stiftung Ebelin and Gerd Bucerius.
Please get in touch by emailing us. You can subscribe to our newsletter by sending an email to nail"AT"ile-hamburg.de with the subject matter “subscribe”. You can also follow us through our Twitter page and YouTube channel.
Upcoming Events
| 30 June 2025, 18h |
Prof. Stefan Bechtold (ETH Zurich) “AI Regulation Between Competition and Regulatory Capture” Location: Room AT223, University of Hamburg, Institute of Law and Economics |
Further information to follow.
Past Events
| 25 October 2021, 18h |
NAIL - Opening Ceremony Irina Orssich, Head of Sector Artificial Intelligence, European Commission, Brussels "A European Approach to Artificial Intelligence: the Proposed European AI Act to Address Fundamental Rights and Safety Risks Specific to AI Systems" "Heinz Nixdorf" lecture room, Bucerius Law School |
| 15 November 2021, 18h |
Dr. Wolfgang Hildesheim, Director Watson, Data Science & Artificial Intelligence, IBM "Global Megatrend Artificial Intelligence - Opportunities and Risks" |
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Prof. Katja Langenbucher, Johann Wolfgang Goethe-Universität Frankfurt am Main "AI as a Product? Algorithmic Credit Scoring as a Test Case for Regulation" |
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Dr. Wolfgang Hildesheim, Director Watson, Data Science & Artificial Intelligence, IBM "Challenges of Standardization of AI in Europe - Organization, Conformity & Technology: How to drive regulation and innovation of AI at the same time?" |
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| 7 February 2022, 18h |
Prof. Mireille Hildebrandt, Vrije Universiteit Brussel "Algorithmic Recommender Systems and the Issue of Proxies" |
| 19 May 2022, 18h |
Prof. Joanna Bryson, Hertie School of Governance "Digital Governance: Regulating Intelligent and Transnational Technologies" |
| 4 July 2022, 18h |
Prof. Martin Ebers, University of Tartu "Artificial Intelligence and EU Consumer Law" |
| 3 November 2022, 18h |
Prof. Tanel Kerikmäe and Prof. Thomas Hoffmann, TalTech University, Talinn, Estonia "AI Systems in Administrative and Court Proceedings in Estonia" |
| 12 December 2022, 18h |
Antonella Zarra, AI Policy Program Manager, Meta "Bridging Tech and Policy Innovation: A Policy Experiment on the AI Act" |
| 26 January 2023, 18h |
Dr. Lukasz Kubicki, Head of SupTech, Banking Supervision, European Central Bank "Bringing European Banking Supervision to the Forefront of Innovation" |
| 6 February 2023, 18h |
Prof. Philipp Hacker, European University Viadrina Frankfurt (Oder) "Regulating ChatGPT: From Trustworthy to Sustainable AI" |
| 12 June 2023, 18h |
Dr. Gerrit M. Beckhaus and Christina Valdini (Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, Rechtsanwälte Steuerberater PartG mbB) "Human in the Loop - Legal Tech as a Team Member in a Global Law Firm" |
| 29 June 2023, 18h |
Prof. Michael Spannowsky (Durham University) "Sinergising AI and Practice Physics to Learn about Nature and Neural Networks" |
| 5 October 2023, 18h |
Kai Zenner, Head of Office and Digital Policy Adviser for MEP Axel Voss (European Parliament) "Regulating AI - Challenges for EU Lawmakers" |
| 11 December 2023, 18h |
Prof. Carsten Gerner-Beuerle (University College London) "AI Regulations' Measurement Problem: Assessing the Risks of AI Systems to Fundamental Rights, Democracy, and the Rule of Law" |
| 29 January 2024, 18h |
Prof. Ignacio Cofone (McGill University) "The Privacy Fallacy: Harm and Power in the Information Economy" |
| 26 February 2024, 18h |
Ass. Prof. David Restrepo Amariles (HEC Paris) "Assessing Human and Algorithmic Methods in Content Moderation under the DSA" |
| 1 July 2024, 18h |
Professor Anne Lauscher (University of Hamburg) "Effective, Fair, and Inclusive Language Technology — Towards Understanding the Role of Social Factors" |
| 20 January 2025, 18h |
Professor Horst Eidenmüller (University of Oxford) “Game Over: Facing the AI Negotiator” |
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Monica Gigola (University of Genoa) “The use of AI in medical practice: profiles of liability” |
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Prof. Felix Steffek (University of Cambridge) “Legal AI: Predicting Court Decisions, Extracting Legal Information and Large Legal Datasets” |
Research
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Wolf-Georg Ringe and Tim Kuhmann, 'Künstliche Intelligenz und Haftung im Zivilrecht', (2025) 80 JuristenZeitung (JZ) 227-236, available at https://www.mohrsiebeck.com/artikel/kuenstliche-intelligenz-und-haftung-im-zivilrecht-101628jz-2025-0104/;
- Alessio Azzutti, Pedro Magalhães Batista and Wolf-Georg Ringe, 'Good Administration in AI-Enhanced Banking Supervision: A Risk-Based Approach', (2024) 29 Columbia Journal of European Law 434-496, working paper version available at: https://ssrn.com/abstract=4430642;
- Alessio Azzutti, Wolf-Georg Ringe and H. Siegfried Stiehl, 'Regulating AI Trading from an AI Life Cycle Perspective', in Nydia Remolina and Aurelio Gurrea-Martinez (eds.), Artificial Intelligence in Finance: Challenges, Opportunities and Regulatory Developments (Edward Elgar 2023) 198-242, available at: https://www.elgaronline.com/edcollchap/book/9781803926179/book-part-9781803926179-19.xml;
- Wolf-Georg Ringe, Alessio Azzutti and H. Siegfried Stiehl, ‘Künstliche Intelligenz und Marktmanipulation’ (2022) 34(6) Zeitschrift für Bankrecht und Bankwirtschaft 341-356, available at: https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.15375/zbb-2022-0604/html;
- Alessio Azzutti, Wolf-Georg Ringe and H. Siegfried Stiehl, ‘Machine Learning, Market Manipulation and Collusion on Capital Markets: Why the "Black Box" Matters’ (2021) 43(1) University of Pennsylvania Journal of International Law 79-135, available at: https://scholarship.law.upenn.edu/jil/vol43/iss1/2;
- Christoph Kumpan, 'Interessenwahrung durch Robo-Advisors', in Florian Möslein and Sebastian Omlor (eds.), FinTech-Handbuch (2nd ed 2021) 739-758;
- Pedro Magalhães Batista and Wolf-Georg Ringe, ‘Dynamism in Financial Market Regulation: Harnessing Regulatory and Supervisory Technologies’ (2021) 4(2) Stanford Journal of Blockchain Law & Policy 203-220, available at https://stanford-jblp.pubpub.org/pub/regtech-suptech-blockchain;
- Wolf-Georg Ringe and Christopher Ruof, ‘Robo Advice: Legal and Regulatory Challenges', in Iris H-Y Chiu and Gudula Deipenbrock (eds.), Routledge Handbook of Financial Technology and Law (Routledge 2021) 193-212;
- Wolf-Georg Ringe, ‘Building a European market for crypto-assets: Who’s afraid of Libra?’, Oxford Business Law Blog, 27 October 2020, available at: https://law.ox.ac.uk/business-law-blog/blog/2020/10/building-european-market-crypto-assets-whos-afraid-libra;
- Wolf-Georg Ringe and Christopher Ruof, ‘Regulating Fintech in the EU: the Case for a Guided Sandbox’ (2020) 11 European Journal of Risk Regulation 604-629.
