"...The principle of rule of law, democracy and human rights by design in AI is necessary because on the one hand the capabilities of AI, based on big data and combined with the pervasiveness of devices and sensors of the Internet of things, will eventually govern core functions of society, reaching from education via health, science and business right into the sphere of law, security and defence, political discourse and democratic decision making. On the other hand, it is also high time to bind new technology to the basic constitutional principles, as the absence of such framing for the Internet economy has already led to a widespread culture of disregard of the law and put democracy in danger, the Facebook Cambridge Analytics scandal being only the latest wake-up call in that respect.

The need for framing the future relationship between technology and democracy cannot be understood without an understanding of the extraordinary power concentration in the hands of few Internet giants..."