Automating Administrative Decisions in Europe and the United States: The Algorithmic State from a Comparative Perspective

This article presents the results of a comparative research project on automated decision-making (ADM) carried out on 20 European legal systems and the United States. The article aims to shed light on the involvement of the state not only as a regulator, but also as a major user and, occasionally, a developer of new technologies. It therefore explores the legal framework applicable to automated administrative decisions in the selected jurisdictions, the sectors involved, the conditions under which automated administrative decisions can be made, and the disputes arising from their use. As the article shows, there are substantial differences between legal systems in terms of regulatory choices and of rates of adoption of administrative ADM. The main finding of the paper is that these differences do not appear to be correlated, in that regulatory choices have little impact on the public adoption of ADM, and vice versa.