Responsible AI and Power: Investigating the System Level Bureaucrat in the Legal Planning Process

Numerous statements and pamphlets indicate that governments should increase the transparency of ICTimplementations and algorithms in eGovernment services and should encourage democratic control. This paper presents research among civil servants, suppliers and experts who play a role in the automation of spatial policymaking and planning (e.g. environment, building, sound and CO2 regulation, mobility). The case is a major digitalisation programme of that spatial planning in the Netherlands. In this digital transition, the research assumption is that public and political values such as transparency, legitimacy and (perceived) fairness are difficult to validate in the practice of the design process; policy makers tend to lose sight of the algorithms and decision trees designed during the ICT -implementation of eGovernment services. This situation would implicate a power shift towards the system level bureaucrat. i.e., the digitized execution of laws and regulations, thereby threatening democratic control. This also sets the stage for anxiety towards ICT projects and digital bureaucracies. We have investigated perceptions about ‘validation dark spots’ in the design process of the national planning platform that create unintended shifts in decision power in the context of the legal planning process. To identify these validation dark spots, 22 stakeholders were interviewed. The results partially confirm the assumption. Based on the collected data, nine validation dark spots are identified that require more attention and research.

Reconstitution of CO2 regulation of SLAC1 anion channel and function of CO2-permeable PIP2;1 aquaporin as carbonic anhydrase 4 interactor

Daily dark periods cause an increase in the leaf CO2 concentration (Ci) and the continuing atmospheric [CO2] rise also increases Ci. Elevated Ci causes closing of stomatal pores thus regulating gas exchange of plants. The molecular signaling mechanisms leading to CO2-induced stomatal closure are only partially understood. Here we demonstrate that high intracellular CO2/HCO3- enhances currents mediated by the guard cell S-type anion channel SLAC1 when co-expressing either of the protein kinases OST1, CPK6 or CPK23 in Xenopus oocytes. Split-ubiquitin screening identified the PIP2;1 aquaporin as an interactor of the βCA4 carbonic anhydrase, which was confirmed in split luciferase, bimolecular fluorescence complementation and co-immunoprecipitation experiments. PIP2;1 exhibited CO2 permeability. Co-expression of βCA4 and PIP2;1 with OST1-SLAC1 or CPK6/23-SLAC1 enabled extracellular CO2 enhancement of SLAC1 anion channel activity. An inactive PIP2;1 point mutation was identified which abrogated water and CO2 permeability and extracellular CO2 regulation of SLAC1 activity in Xenopus oocytes. These findings identify the CO2-permeable PIP2;1 aquaporin as key interactor of carbonic anhydrases, show functional reconstitution of extracellular CO2 signaling to ion channel regulation and implicate SLAC1 as a bicarbonate-responsive protein in CO2 regulation of S-type anion channels.