Interview: Marina Teller introduces new 3IA International Chairholder Karim Benyekhlef

His research, titled "Legal Reasoning and Legal Regulation of AI," falls within the institute's third research axis: AI for Secure and Smart Spaces. To mark the beginning of this chair, we spoke with Marina Teller, 3IA Chairholder, about the potential synergies between their respective research projects.

What inspired you to invite Professor Benyekhlef as an international chair, and how do you envision the Quebec–France collaboration enriching the research on AI and law at 3IA Côte d’Azur?

My decision to invite Professor Karim Benyekhlef as an international chair is rooted in a long-standing intellectual convergence between his work and my own research on artificial intelligence as a total or systemic innovation. Professor Benyekhlef has consistently approached digital technologies not merely as technical tools, but as profound transformations of legal reasoning, institutional design, and democratic governance. This perspective strongly resonates with the work we are conducting at 3IA Côte d’Azur on the legal, economic, and societal implications of deep technologies (see: Marina Teller. Des « innovations totales » au devoir de « vigilance technologique » : une introduction à des concepts en émergence. Dalloz IP/IT : droit de la propriété intellectuelle et du numérique, 2025, 10, pp.455. ⟨halshs-05331264⟩).

The Quebec–France collaboration offers a particularly fertile ground for advancing research on AI and law because it brings together two legal cultures that share foundational principles while experimenting with different regulatory trajectories. Quebec has long been a laboratory for legal innovation in the digital sphere, particularly through the Cyberjustice Laboratory, which combines legal theory, technological experimentation, and institutional reform. Integrating this experience into the research ecosystem of 3IA Côte d’Azur allows us to enrich our European analyses with concrete, operational insights drawn from real-world experimentation.

More broadly, this collaboration embodies a shared ambition: to rethink the role of law in a world increasingly structured by algorithms, while ensuring that technological development remains aligned with democratic values, fundamental rights, and social acceptability.

Given the different regulatory approaches between Europe (with the AI Act) and North America, what opportunities do you see for cross-continental dialogue through this international chair? How might Canadian perspectives inform European AI governance?

The divergence between European and North American approaches to AI regulation creates a unique opportunity for meaningful cross-continental dialogue. The European AI Act reflects a strong normative ambition, grounded in a risk-based regulatory model and deeply anchored in the protection of fundamental rights. In contrast, the Canadian and more broadly North American approaches have often favored experimental governance, ethical frameworks, and institutional innovation over comprehensive ex ante regulation.

Professor Benyekhlef’s work offers a bridge between these models. Canadian perspectives, particularly those developed in Quebec, emphasize procedural legitimacy, access to justice, and institutional adaptability in the face of technological change. These dimensions are sometimes underexplored in European regulatory debates, which tend to focus heavily on compliance, classification of risks, and market regulation.

Through this international chair, we can confront these approaches and explore how procedural tools, participatory governance mechanisms, and experimental legal frameworks could complement the European regulatory architecture. Canadian insights on cyberjustice, digital courts, and online dispute resolution can help inform a more dynamic and institutionally grounded vision of AI governance in Europe—one that goes beyond risk prevention to address legitimacy, trust, and democratic participation.

Professor Benyekhlef’s work on cyberjustice is pioneering. How do you see his expertise in online dispute resolution and judicial transformation complementing your research on economic law and deep tech at 3IA?

Professor Benyekhlef’s work on cyberjustice is pioneering precisely because it situates technological innovation at the heart of legal institutions, rather than treating it as a peripheral tool. His research on online dispute resolution, digital courts, and the transformation of judicial processes directly complements my own work on the algorithmization of economic regulation and the rise of what I describe as “total innovations”.

In economic law, we increasingly observe that markets, compliance mechanisms, and regulatory enforcement are mediated by algorithms—whether in competition law, financial regulation, or platform governance. These developments raise questions similar to those addressed by cyberjustice: how decisions are made, how they can be contested, and how legitimacy and trust can be preserved when human judgment is partially replaced or shaped by automated systems.

By bringing together cyberjustice and economic law, we can develop a more comprehensive understanding of how AI reshapes both adjudication and regulation. Professor Benyekhlef’s expertise allows us to explore how procedural safeguards, transparency, and human-centered design can be integrated into algorithmic decision-making systems well beyond the judicial sphere, including in markets and public administration.

What concrete research projects or initiatives do you hope will emerge from this international collaboration? Are there specific areas where the Cyberjustice Laboratory and your chair could develop joint work?

This international collaboration opens the door to several concrete research initiatives. One key area is the study of algorithmic legitimacy and contestability, particularly through comparative analysis of European and Canadian experiences. Joint research could focus on procedural rights in algorithmic decision-making, impact assessments, and mechanisms allowing individuals and economic actors to challenge automated decisions.

Another promising area lies in the intersection between cyberjustice and economic regulation. The Cyberjustice Laboratory’s experience with experimental platforms and real-world pilots could be combined with the work of our chair on AI governance, compliance by design, and digital market regulation. This could lead to joint projects on online dispute resolution in platform economies, automated enforcement mechanisms, or the role of AI in regulatory supervision (SupTech).

Finally, we hope to develop shared doctoral and postdoctoral programs, interdisciplinary workshops, and comparative publications that will structure a lasting research network between Quebec and Europe. Beyond individual projects, the ambition is to build a common intellectual space where law, technology, and democratic governance can be jointly rethought in the age of artificial intelligence.

Learn more about Karim Benyekhlef’s international chair

Learn more about Marina Teller’s chair