February 12, 2026
Judges-in-the-loop? Judicial involvement in human oversight of high-risk decision support systems under the EU AI Ac
This article explores the implications of making judges-in-the-loop responsible for human oversight under the AI Act by assessing the unique professional responsibilities, skills, motivations, and biases they bring to the AI-supported decision-making process.
Abstract
The European Union (EU) Artificial Intelligence Act (AI Act) requires institutions that deploy high-risk AI systems to ensure that they are overseen by individuals with the necessary competence, training, authority, and support. Judicial institutions may look to judges who use the high-risk decision support systems they deploy to perform this oversight role. These judges are ‘in-the-loop’ in the sense that they review each output the system generates and decide whether to override, disregard, or defer to it. This article explores the implications of making judges-in-the-loop responsible for human oversight under the AI Act by assessing the unique professional responsibilities, skills, motivations, and biases they bring to the AI-supported decision-making process. It finds that the task of overseeing high-risk decision support systems is too big for judges-in-the-loop alone and proposes an alternative way of involving judges in human oversight that not only meets the AI Act’s requirements, but more reliably safeguards judicial values and fundamental rights.
To continue reading please visit: https://doi.org/10.1093/ijlit/eaag001
This open access article was published in the International Journal of Law and Information Technology on 12 February 2026.
Banks, I. (2026). Judges-in-the-loop? Judicial involvement in human oversight of high-risk decision support systems under the EU AI Act. International Journal of Law and Information Technology, 34, eaag001. https://doi.org/10.1093/ijlit/eaag001
Keywords: human oversight, human-in-the-loop, EU AI Act, digital justice, decision support systems, judicial ethics, selective adherence
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