Abstract

Information Society has evolved to Algorithmic Society, where decision-making processes are done not only by humans but also by artificial agents. However, opacity usually characterizes algorithms, and it means that machine reasoning could be understood only looking at each output, while keeping their manufacturers substantially unaccountable. Starting from the perspective of legal informatics, this paper aims at investigating the dichotomy between opacity and confidentiality, on the one hand, and explainability and transparency, on the other hand, taking into account the current debate. Eventually, challenges and possible solutions for a fair Algorithmic society are discussed.