Overview

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Welcome to our MOOC on the legal foundations of artificial intelligence. This course is aimed at professionals and students interested in the legal and societal implications of AI. It is particularly relevant for legal practitioners, policymakers, public sector officials, private sector actors, civil society representatives, academics, and students who want to better understand how existing legal frameworks apply to emerging technologies. Throughout the course, you will explore how AI systems function from a legal perspective, including questions related to software, hardware, and legal personhood. You will also examine when and to what extent AI-driven decisions can be trusted. Drawing on legal theory and practical examples, the course will guide you through key issues of responsibility and liability. You will gain insights into how criminal law, negligence, contract law, and product liability apply when AI systems cause harm, as well as how AI intersects with fundamental rights such as privacy, fairness, and non-discrimination. By the end of the course, you will be able to understand how core legal principles adapt to intelligent systems and how individual rights can be protected in an AI-driven society

Syllabus

How AI Works - The Basics You Need to Know
- This module introduces learners to the basic mechanics of Artificial Intelligence - how algorithms, data, and models produce outputs - and why these processes raise legal and ethical questions. It explains the difference between human and “AI” agency, introduces the legal concept of the person, and shows why understanding how AI works is essential for assessing its legal implications.
Can We Trust AI Decisions?
- This module introduces the concept of trust in AI decision-making. It explores what it means to “trust” an automated system, why trust matters in law and governance, and how international principles aim to make AI decisions reliable, transparent, and accountable. Learners discover how legal systems and global organisations - such as the UN, UNESCO, and OECD - frame “trustworthy AI” and what safeguards can help ensure fairness, explainability, and human oversight.
Who is Responsible When AI Acts?
- This module examines accountability and responsibility in the age of intelligent systems. When an AI system makes or influences a decision - in healthcare, policing, warfare, or daily life - who bears the legal responsibility? Learners explore how existing legal doctrines (liability, negligence, product safety, agency) adapt to autonomous and data-driven technologies, and how international frameworks address accountability and human oversight.
When Things Go Wrong
- This module introduces learners to legal liability in the age of AI. What happens when an algorithm fails, a robot causes harm, or an automated decision violates rights? Learners explore how classical concepts - negligence, causation, product liability, contractual responsibility - apply (or struggle to apply) to modern AI systems. The module also reviews new legislative initiatives that adapt liability frameworks to autonomous and data-driven technologies.
Your Rights in the Age of AI
- This module explores how AI technologies affect fundamental rights and freedoms. Learners discover how privacy, equality, freedom of expression, and due process are shaped by algorithmic systems - and what legal safeguards exist to protect them. The module introduces global and regional frameworks (UN, EU, UNESCO) and practical cases illustrating how rights-based approaches guide AI governance.
Peer Project - Spotting Legal Issues
- This final module is a hands-on peer project where learners apply the key concepts from Modules 1–5 to analyse a simple real-world AI scenario. Students will identify potential legal and ethical issues, link them to relevant principles and frameworks, and propose practical solutions.