Publisher: Erich Schweighofer, Stefan Eder, Federico Costantini, Felix Schmautzer
The main theme of the 29th International Legal Informatics Symposium – IRI§26 – is human-machine collaboration in cyberspace, a continuation of last year’s theme: AI, Ethics & Law, with a focus on humans. The technical and legal framework is established with generative AI and the AI Regulation; however, rapid development continues, and AI is increasingly becoming part of the legal work environment. The roles of the human and the machine in the legal system remain somewhat unclear, but the primary goal should be support.
On this regard, two concepts have become crucial: “autonomy” and “soft law”. As for the first, the fact that autonomy can present itself in “varying levels” – as specified by the definition of “AI Systems” in the “AI Act” – means that, even in cyberspace, the interaction between human and machine – but also among machines – is not a binary phenomenon, since it has intrinsic nuances, which depend on many factors. Among the human ones, can be accounted both those related to the individual (especially skill and competences), and those concerning the organization (in terms of governance and processes) where AI is expected to be implemented. Therefore, the assessment of trustworthiness depends on the level of autonomy which, additionally, is relative to the specific task assigned to artificial agents. Such multi-dimensional evaluation can properly be addressed in terms of complexity. As for the second, the “Code of Conduct” against illegal contents in the DSA, the “Code of Practice” for GPAI in the AI Act, and different sorts of “regulatory sandboxes” – AI Act, Data Governance Act, Cyber Resilience Act – confirm the usefulness of new regulatory tools which cannot be qualified neither legal sources in a traditional sense, nor technical standards. In fact, such provisions incorporate a pragmatic knowledge which is meant to be shared as intangible assets by individuals, companies, institutions and even communities. Pure know-how becomes the driver of governance in the technological sector.
The informational mastery and analysis of legal text corpora have been a topic of IRI§ for many years, and it is undeniable that this will significantly change and improve legal research with the help of LLMs – and this is already happening. The goal is no longer simply information retrieval, but rather first analysis – a draft document with a usable apparatus of footnotes. A document generator, combined with legal prediction, can handle most of the work, but the final responsibility remains with the decision-makers.
This conference volume aims to provide comprehensive information on this topic, focusing on digital agents and their relationship to humans. To temper excessive enthusiasm, an old tool of legal informatics proves helpful – the critical evaluation of results using error rates. The optimized interaction between humans and digital legal assistants is the solution.
This year marks our 29th symposium, again in Salzburg. Many stakeholders have remained loyal, even though the composition and the respective proponents have changed significantly. The concept of a scientific platform accessible to as many people as possible with minimal and necessary barriers to entry has remained the same. Science is multifaceted – and IRI§ aims to meet the need for reviews and consistency checks between scientific research and practical application, as well as to provide a platform for research ideas and innovative practical solutions. The results of IRI§ as a community can be found in the 27 conference proceedings.
IRI§ is primarily an in-person conference with numerous networking opportunities. However, the combination of in-person and online elements will continue whenever possible, including streaming and Q&A sessions.
This year, the main conference in February 2026 will again be accompanied by an IRI§ trimester in the spring, a series of webinars on IRIS topics, held in cooperation with ReMeP Conference and WZRI Vienna Center for Legal Informatics, the Legal Informatics Working Group, CYBLY and St. Pölten University of Applied Sciences.
As usual, the conference proceedings include not only new scientific findings but also contributions on the practical problems and applications of legal informatics. The multimedia publication in cooperation with Editions Weblaw will continue.
The conference proceedings are divided into the following thematic groups:
The organizers of IRI§26 are indebted to the numerous individuals who contributed to making this academic platform for legal informatics possible. These many stakeholders are listed on the following pages under IRIS Organization. Of particular note are the ARI Working Group on Legal Informatics in cooperation with the WZRI Vienna Center for Legal Informatics, the Knowledge Network Law, Economics and the World of Work at the University of Salzburg, the program chair Erich Schweighofer and the co-chairs Stefan Eder, Federico Costantini, and Felix Schmautzer, the publications chair Franz Kummer; and the local organizing team at the University of Salzburg.
Our sincere thanks go to the authors for their contributions, which were edited with the utmost care.
Conference proceedings are snapshots of scientific events, specifically the cherished and cultivated meetings of the academic community. The IRIS concept aims for the broadest possible dissemination of the results. The publisher Editions Weblaw publishes the online proceedings and, additionally, a printed book upon request. Furthermore, the contributions are published—sometimes with a delay—in the journal Jusletter IT (https://www.jusletter-it.eu). The previously published conference proceedings (from 2000 onward) can be accessed in the Jusletter IT archive. The freely accessible online journal IRIS Journal (irisj.eu), in cooperation with LawThek of CYBLY, will soon be launched, encompassing the entire IRIS archive as well as the research of the Legal Informatics Working Group.
We hope that this conference volume, in both print and electronic form, will be received with similar interest as the proceedings of previous years!
Vienna and Udine, January 2026
Erich Schweighofer, Stefan Eder, Federico Costantini, Felix Schmautzer