Artificial Intelligence is associated with the expectation of enhancing human capabilities and is believed to hold the keys to exponential progress and prosperity for society. However, the "burst of optimism" surrounding Artificial Intelligence is accompanied by intense concerns regarding the terms, limits, and implications of delegating human activities to such systems.

Reservations are strengthened by the opacity and the inability to understand these systems, which are characterized by autonomy. The potential negative implications are exacerbated by the significant power asymmetry between those who develop and implement algorithmic systems and the users or those who experience the outcomes of these systems.

The ethical and legal issues raised by the increasing use of AI systems, even if not all are novel, are numerous and complex. In the texts featured in this book, the authors attempt to explore some fundamental questions: Spyros Tassis investigates the issue of the ethical rules that (should) govern technology and presents a "roadmap of ethical principles." Iliana Kosti outlines the gender biases that an algorithmic process may incorporate and reproduce.

Apóstolos Vorras highlights perhaps the major problem of AI, the lack of transparency, and the risk of the "black box" evolving into Pandora's box. Vasilis Karkatzounis poses the question of whether "Can machines think 'according to the law'?" in other words, whether AI systems can participate in the issuance of judicial decisions and the administration of justice. A similar topic is addressed by Lilian Mitrou: is the administration (of) algorithms legal, feasible, and acceptable?

The book is written by legal professionals who are primarily driven by the belief in the value of democracy and fundamental rights, but at the same time, they love and assert that they understand technology. From this perspective, this work attempts to explore the issues raised by the development of AI and provide some answers, which are inherently provisional.