Stuttering Law: A Manifesto on Play, Interpretation, and Artificial Intelligence – JURIST – Commentary
Publish Date: 2026-06-17 23:26:00
Source Domain: www.jurist.org
-
The article discusses the fundamental shift in legal interpretation with the integration of artificial intelligence (AI), suggesting that AI alters the dynamics of how law is understood and applied.
-
It posits that previous understandings of law as a system governed by a hierarchy of commands miss the performative and temporal nature of legal interpretation.
-
The article uses the analogy of a group of children negotiating roles in a game to illustrate the complex, recursive nature of legal normativity, highlighting that legal interpretation is inherently a dynamic process rather than a static application of rules.
-
AI, according to the author, is not just a tool assisting the existing legal system but actively participates within the interpretive process, influencing how laws and precedents are understood and transformed.
-
As legal interpretation becomes distributed across human and non-human actors, the question of responsibility for judgments becomes more complex and less assignable to a single entity, demanding a new reflexive understanding of legal authority.
-
The interplay between AI and legal interpretation leads to a more processual and relational view of law, moving away from fixed norms to a continuous negotiation of meaning.
-
Jurisprudence itself is affected, changing from an outside commentary to an integral part of the interpretive field, with legal theory influencing and being influenced by the practice of law.
-
Ultimately, the author argues that rather than seeking to preserve a traditional view of law, there is a need for critical participation that recognizes the role of AI in the ongoing production and transformation of legal meaning.
