Artificial intelligence and renegotiation of commercial lease contracts affected by pandemic-related contingencies from Covid-19. The project A.I.A.Co

This paper aims to investigate the possibility of using Artificial Intelligence (AI) to resolve the legal issues raised by the Covid-19 emergency about the fate of contracts with continuous, repeated or deferred performance, as well as, more generally, to deal with exceptional events and contingencies. We first study whether the Italian legal system allows for'maintenance' remedies to face contingencies and to avoid the termination of the (duration) contracts while ensuring effective protection of the interests of both parties. We then give a complete and technical description of an AI-based predictive framework, aimed at assisting both the Magistrate (during the trial) and the parties themselves (in out-of-court proceedings) in the redetermination of the rent of commercial lease contracts. This paper aims to investigate the possibility of using Artificial Intelligence (AI) to resolve the legal issues raised by the Covid-19 emergency about the fate of contracts with continuous, repeated, or deferred performance, as well as, more generally, to deal with exceptional events and contingencies. However - even if the predictive system was initially intended to deal with the very specific problem connected to Covid-19 - the knowledge acquired, the model produced and the research outcomes can be easily transferred to other civil issues (see Section 5). In particular, jurists had to deal, on the one hand, with the distribution of the contractual risk and, on the other hand, with the management of contingencies from a perspective of preservation of the contract. The Italian Civil Code provides remedies to face both contingencies and breach of the contract. As for the first profile, the attention must be first of all directed on the Termination for Supervening Impossibility (art. Similar'demolition' remedies are a consequence of the non-fulfillment of the obligation: in this case, the attention must be first focused on the debtor's liability (art. These remedies allow only the disadvantaged party to cancel the contractual relationship. However, the termination of the contract does not always respond effectively to the interests pursued by the parties, who may prefer to continue the contractual relationship, even if under amended provisions.