On 24 April, Ivana Jelić, Vice-President of the Court and judge elected in respect of Montenegro, delivered a keynote address at the international conference The Future of the ‘Marketplace of Ideas’ Amid the Rise of the Internet, Fake News, and AI: Challenges for Constitutional Courts, which took place in Chișinău, Republic of Moldova.

During her address on the legal challenges posed by artificial intelligence from the perspective of the European Court of Human Rights, Vice-President Jelić noted that the topic of the conference “strikes at the very heart of democratic societies and the rule of law.”

Elaborating on recent technological advancements, she said: “In this evolving environment, the question is no longer simply whether ideas can circulate freely, but whether they can compete on genuinely equal terms, or whether the conditions of that competition are themselves being shaped in ways that affect the outcome of public debate.”

She also referred to the Court’s case-law on freedom of expression and the implications of advanced technologies for the right to respect for private life; the Council of Europe Framework Convention on Artificial Intelligence; and the profound questions that AI poses for the administration of justice itself. Vice-President Jelić noted that the role of the European Court of Human Rights, and of constitutional courts, is to ensure that the transformation of the “marketplace of ideas” does not erode the foundations of democratic society.

“The ‘marketplace of ideas’ must continue to be a space in which human dignity, human judgment, and human rights prevail,” she concluded.

The event was organised by the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Moldova as part of the country's Presidency of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe.