The increasing availability of digital data sources are providing opportunities for policy makers in the sense that appropriate algorithms can digest massive amounts of data into facts and figures to support the conception, development, and implementation of new policies and associated decisions. Suitable algorithms are also contributing to the follow-up of the impact of the policies that are already in place. The algorithms do not only need to be appropriate but should also be well documented and based on scientific methods. This permits to reproduce and possibly challenge the generated facts and figures. Indeed, a strong scientific base is a fundamental condition to the acceptance of algorithms in a policy context. On the other hand, while data science has recently emerged as a new and promising scientific discipline, facts and figures extracted from data should not be solely based on approaches pursued by data driven methods because domain specific expertise and knowledge remain essential. This is also fundamental to help understanding whether the observed correlations are casual or causal.

With that in mind, the AI & Policy track aims at exploring the role and impact of AI in a policy context through an oral session followed by a panel discussion.