Recommender Systems: Legal and Ethical Issues

AI-powered recommender systems are now a ubiquitous part of our lives. The European Commission, in its Proposal for a Digital Services Act, defines a ‘recommender system’ as a fully or partially automated system used by an online platform to suggest in its online interface-specific information to recipients of the service.

To determine the relative relevance of their suggested content, Recommender systems oftentimes use personal data and users’ profiles. The values driving that recommendation must be scrutinized. This is because what is important for an individual receiving the recommendation, the company on which that platform was received, and society at large might diverge. The various stakeholders may be affected differently by one recommendation or by the aggregate of many recommendations.

Due to their global and fast spread in the last decade, both legal and philosophical research has yet to explore the implications that recommender systems have for our lives in a digitalized society. The ever-changing technological landscape requires a detailed philosophical and ethical analysis of Recommender Systems to both evaluate existing legislation and shape future regulatory measures. This conference will kick-start this important work bringing together scholars working on the philosophical, ethical, and legal aspects of recommender systems and their environments as well as from scholars working in neighboring, related fields.