Informing Accountable Software

New perspectives at the nexus of software, law, and society

In this project, titled “Agent Based Modeling at the Boundary of Law and Software” we are studying how agent-based models (ABMs) can address the gap between legal requirements and software design by helping regulators, domain experts, software designers, and other stakeholders assess the potential societal implications of particular software and regulatory systems.

The interactions between software design, legal requirements, and social contexts can have unpredictable and sometimes problematic results. We use ABMs—a research method that involves bottom-up modeling of complex systems and computational determination of their emergent properties by running simulations—to model elements of the social and regulatory environment in which software systems operate. This includes: 

• Creating software specifications using models of regulations and the social environment in which software operates,
• Testing software systems for compliance using simulations of their social impact, and 
• Designing regulations that reflect these new tools. 

We are focusing on software systems in particular domains, including online advertising and infectious-disease contact tracing, to develop general methods for improving the design of accountable software systems. With relevance across computer science, social sciences, and policy, this interdisciplinary work can help to improve approaches to software specification and automated testing, as well as guide the crafting and enforcement of technology regulations.

Project Team

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