Redefining sovereignty: the rise of artificial authority and the crisis of constitutional values

Artificial intelligence has begun to deeply penetrate the States decision-making processes and power is also shifting from state to non-state actors. The traditional concept of sovereignty is consequently under transition. Originally, it was conceived as the highest power of the State within a legal and political order, rooted in the Westphalian model of absolute State authority and fixed territorial borders. In the modern era, this view has moved towards the best sovereignty ideal of power of values, a paradigm that is now undergoing a profound crisis. States are losing their exclusive capacity to legislate, administer justice and enforce rights and order because their own power goes through AI systems able to increasingly distribute, automate and minimize such that power. Governments now rely on algorithmic tools for border control, welfare distribution, judicial sentencing and even predictive policing. At the same time, citizens are subject to continuous profiling, classifications and behavioural targeting, often without their own knowledge and control. In this scenario, it is necessary to question the value of constitutional principles and the resilience of the system of protections, even of the fundamental human rights. To do so, this essay proposes the pattern of «artificial authority» to design a new notion of sovereignty arguing that the traditional State sovereignty is no longer a human state-centric construct rather it is increasingly shaped and exercised by private transnational entities through algorithmic and opaque computational systems. Analysing the doctrinal framework, the contribution examines these developments. Conclusions will focus on the tension between Artificial intelligence authority and the normative foundations of constitutional democracies.