Dr Johann Laux
About
Dr Johann Laux is a British Academy Postdoctoral Fellow at the Oxford Internet Institute. He studies the legal, social, and governmental implications of emerging technologies such as AI and Big Data. His current research project asks how human oversight over automated decision-making can be improved and implemented effectively. Dr Laux also works on the Governance of Emerging Technology Project and researches the impact of personalisation and targeting on citizens and consumers.
Dr Laux graduated from the London School of Economics and Political Science with a degree in Governance and from the University of Hamburg with degrees in Law. He earned a PhD in Law at the University of Hamburg, researching the institutional design of courts with mechanisms of collective intelligence. Dr Laux studied Philosophy at King’s College London and was a Visiting Researcher at UC Berkeley, School of Law. Before joining Oxford, Johann was an Emile Noël Fellow at New York University’s School of Law and a Program Affiliate with the Digital Welfare State and Human Rights Project at New York University’s School of Law.
Expertise
- Legal, social, ethical, and governmental implications of emerging technologies including AI and Big Data
- Artificial intelligence and welfare
- Digital economy
- Digital platform regulation
- European digital single market
Selected publications
- “Three Pathways for Standardisation and Ethical Disclosure by Default under the European Union Artificial Intelligence Act”. Laux, J., Wachter, S. and Mittelstadt, B. (2023)
- "Trustworthy Artificial Intelligence and the European Union AI Act: On the Conflation of Trustworthiness and Acceptability of Risk", Regulation and Governance. Laux, J., Wachter, S. and Mittelstadt, B. (2023)
- “Institutionalised Distrust and Human Oversight of Artificial Intelligence: Toward a Democratic Design of AI Governance under the European Union AI Act”. Laux, J. (2023)
- "The Concentration-after-Personalisation Index (CAPI): Governing Effects of Personalisation Using the Example of Targeted Online Advertising", Big Data and Society 9(2). Laux, J., Stephany, F., Russell, C., Wachter, S. and Mittelstadt, B. (2022)
- Public Epistemic Authority Normative Institutional Design for EU Law. Mohr Siebeck. Laux, J.M. (2022)
- "Neutralizing online behavioural advertising: Algorithmic targeting with market power as an unfair commercial practice" Common Market Law Review 58(3), 43. Laux, J., Wachter, S. and Mittelstadt, B. (2021)
- "Taming the Few: Platform Regulation, Independent Audits, and the Risks of Capture Created by the DMA and DSA", Computer Law and Security Review 43, 105613. Laux, J., Wachter, S. and Mittelstadt, B. (2021)
- “Should we worry about the government nudging us with personalised advertising?” Laux, J. (2021)
Media experience
Dr Johann Laux has worked as a writer and contributor for German quality outlets such as Die ZEIT, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, and Die Tageszeitung. In the UK, Dr Laux has worked for Monocle magazine and his research has been featured in The Sunday Times, Irish Tech News, BBC Radio Oxford, and CorrelTalk Podcast.
Recent media work
- Living in the Uckermark, working for New York (Die ZEIT, 2022)
- Fast-fashion giant Shein hooks children with casino games (The Times, 2021)
- When the state becomes personal (Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, 2021)
- No prosecution by algorithm (Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, 2020)
- Automated poverty (Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, 2019)
- The Empire writes back (Die ZEIT, 2015)
