‘The Justification Machine’. Automating Reason-Giving

ABSTRACT The article analyses how automation in public administration reshapes the duty to give reasons for administrative decisions. It conceptualises “automated reasoning” as the design of machine-based justifications, extending beyond standard reasons to the selection, weighting, and communication of variables and legal norms. Using a tripartite framework, factual circumstances, discretionary factual assessments, and legal circumstances, it shows how model design can conceal discretion, overload recipients with complex variable interactions, or shift justificatory burdens through hyper-links and external repositories. Drawing on the Danish property-valuation system and insights from Finnish, German, Norwegian, and Danish law, the article demonstrates a growing regulation of automated discretion but an absence of standards for explanations. It argues that GDPR Article 15(1)(h), as interpreted by the CJEU in the seminal Dun & Bradstreet judgement, together with the AI Act Article 86, should guide ex ante administrative system design so that automated reasons remain human-intelligible and reviewable

KEYWORDS AI Act - Automated administrative decision-making - Automated discretion - Automated reason-giving - Cognitive capacity - Comprehensibility - Comparative administrative law - Duty to provide reasons - Explainability - Factual assessments - Meaningful logic - Model design - Right to an explanation - Transparency - Valuation systems - Variable weighting

TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. Introduction. – 2. The Normative Function of Administrative Reason-Giving. – 3. The Nature of Reasons and the Complexity of Automating Them. – 4. The Duty to Provide Reasons Vis-á-Vis Automated Reason-Giving. – 4.1. Automating the Reason-Giving of Factual Circumstances. – 4.2. Automating the Reason-Giving of Discretionary Factual Assessments. – 4.3. Automating the Reason-Giving of Legal Circumstances. – 5. Situating the Duty to Provide Reasons Within a Broader Regulatory Context. – 6. Conclusion.