L’AI Act e la sfida europea dell’intelligenza artificiale: quale ruolo per il costituzionalismo (digitale)?

The advent of the digital age has opened a new season for constitutionalism, as it must deal with the new technological private power. To address the impact of technology on the categories of constitutionalism, “digital constitutionalism” was introduced, a concept with which constitutionalism is intended to be declined in the light of the changes produced by technology on the “new digital civilization”. It is in this sense that constitutionalism must go “beyond” and become “digital”. This trend towards a European digital constitutionalism emerges from several acts, including the recent AI Act which aims to facilitate the development of artificial intelligence with a view to a digital single market, while safeguarding fundamental rights, European values and ethical principles, in particular those threatened by AI, as well as equality and non-discrimination, requiring the entities that develop AI systems to take into account the constitutional principles of the European Union: a declination of constitutionalism – based on the limitation of power (including private power) and the protection of fundamental rights – in a “digital” key.