The Interaction between International Law and Domestic Law on Artificial Intelligence

The effective interaction between international law and domestic law on artificial intelligence (AI) is a requirement of the rule of law for regulating AI risks and ensuring the sound development of AI. Existing international law on AI comprises three components:initiative-based soft law and regional hard law for direct regulation, as well as area-specific international law for indirect regulation. However, constrained by the sources and subjects of traditional international law, existing international law lacks adequate adaptability when applied to AI. Europe, the United States, and China have each formulated national AI laws; these domestic laws not only require international law on AI to reconcile differences and disputes, but also provide a foundation of consensus for the development of such international law. The internalization of international law and the externalization of domestic law are both manifested in the two-way interaction between international law and domestic law on AI. Non-state actors in the AI field rely on regulation by domestic law, which makes the extension of international law to domestic law possible and necessary. China needs to not only continuously adjust and optimize its domestic law to provide a legislative response to the development of AI, but also put forward proposals for international law on AI. It should promote international law to respond to the needs of domestic laws of various countries and facilitate the formation of a dual collaborative governance model of hard and soft law for international law on AI. Further leveraging the advantage of domestic law in rapid response through scenario- based regulation and realizing the spillover effect of domestic law constitutes a way for China to make contributions in the field of international law on AI.