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Regulation of Automated Administration via Technical Due Process in the Context of Algorithmic Black Box

Huiteng Wu

Advance in Law / 2026,8(2): 43-54 / 2026-05-15 23 24

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• Information:

  School of Law, Shandong University, Qingdao, China

• Keywords:
  Algorithmic Black Box; Automated Administration; Technological Due Process; Algorithmic Transparency
• Abstract: Automated administration relies on algorithmic technologies to achieve innovative breakthroughs in the efficiency of public governance; however, the endogenous complexity of algorithms and the proprietary, closed nature of source code have collectively engendered the “algorithmic black box”. This phenomenon substantially deprives administrative counterparts of their right to statement and defense, thereby precipitating a systemic failure of traditional due process principles in fully autonomous automated administration scenarios. The algorithmic black box dismantles the operational foundations of traditional due process across three critical dimensions: bidirectional information transmission, procedural adversarial mechanisms, and recusal systems intended to preclude bias. Consequently, existing procedural regulations are fundamentally ill-equipped to adapt to the technical architecture of automated administration. A regulatory pathway centered on technological due process constructs an institutional closed loop of “preventive safeguards, adversarial empowerment, and corrective control” through the synergistic application of algorithmic disclosure, algorithmic explanation, algorithmic auditing, and algorithmic review. By employing technology to constrain technology, this approach helps mitigate the opaqueness of the algorithmic black box. Ultimately, this pathway supplements and adapts the core of administrative procedural justice to the digital age, balances the efficiency of technological governance with the imperative to safeguard the rights of administrative counterparts, and propels the standardized operation of automated administration along the trajectory of the rule of law, thereby realizing a profound integration of algorithmic justice and procedural justice.
• DOI: 10.35534/al.0802005 (registering DOI)
• Cite: Wu, H. T. (2026). Regulation of Automated Administration via Technical Due Process in the Context of Algorithmic Black Box. Advance in Law, 8(2), 43-54.