Artificial Intelligence as a New Social Paradigm – Legal and Ethical Challenges

The paper examines artificial intelligence as a new social paradigm, viewed through the interrelationship between legal and ethical standards and the challenges arising from its
development and application. The increasing automation and transfer of certain decisionmaking functions and roles to algorithmic systems raise a fundamental question: are traditional legal concepts and existing ethical principles sufficient to address the new risks and consequences associated with the use of artificial intelligence? The aim of the paper is to assess the extent to which existing regulatory solutions can ensure effective protection of human dignity, autonomy, privacy, equality, and legal certainty, and whether these frameworks need to be reconsidered and modified.
The research is based on a normative, conceptual, and comparative approach, through the analysis of legal instruments, ethical standards, and contemporary scientific perspectives.
Particular attention is devoted to the transparency and explainability of algorithmic decisionmaking, the protection of personal data, risks of discrimination, profiling, human oversight, the limits of autonomous decision-making, and the issue of legal liability for consequences arising from the operation of autonomous artificial intelligence systems. The central thesis of the paper is that effective governance of artificial intelligence cannot be based solely on technical
standards and legal prohibitions; rather, an integrated model must be established in which legally binding rules, ethical principles, human oversight, and institutional accountability operate in a complementary manner. Human rights constitute the starting point for assessing
the social acceptability of artificial intelligence, while legal certainty, transparency, and accountability are prerequisites for an acceptable and sustainable technological transformation.
The paper pays particular attention to the European Union Artificial Intelligence Act (AI Act) and its significance for the future development of the Macedonian legal framework. In this context, the announced and anticipated regulation of artificial intelligence in the Republic of
North Macedonia represents an opportunity for timely alignment with European standards, while also allowing for the development of a national regulatory model tailored to the domestic institutional and legal context.
Keywords: artificial intelligence, social paradigm, human rights, legal regulation, ethics,
algorithmic decision-making.