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Mechanisms to control public power have been developed and shaped around human beings as decision-makers at the centre of the public administration. However, technology is radically changing how public administration is organised and reliance on Artificial Intelligence is on the rise across all sectors. While carrying the promise of an increasingly efficient administration, automating (parts of) administrative decision-making processes also poses a challenge to our human-centred systems of control of public power. This article focuses on one of these control mechanisms: the duty to give reasons under EU law, a pillar of administrative law designed to enable individuals to challenge decisions and courts to exercise their powers of review. First, it analyses whether the duty to give reasons can be meaningfully applied when EU bodies rely on AI systems to inform their decision-making. Secondly, it examines the added value of secondary law, in particular the data protection rules applicable to EU institutions and the draft EU Artificial Intelligence Act, in complementing and adapting the duty to give reasons to better fulfil its purpose in a (partially) automated administration. This article concludes that the duty to give reasons provides a useful starting point but leaves a number of aspects unclear. While providing important safeguards, neither EU data protection law nor the draft EU Artificial Intelligence Act currently fill these gaps.
