Search

The increasing adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) in mental healthcare has transformed the identification, monitoring, and management of psychological conditions through predictive analytics and behavioral data analysis, while simultaneously generating significant legal and ethical challenges related to accountability, privacy protection, transparency, and the legitimacy of algorithmic decision-making. This study aims to examine legal accountability mechanisms in AI-driven mental health systems and to integrate Islamic ethical principles as a complementary evaluative framework for strengthening governance. A normative legal research method is employed using statutory, conceptual, and comparative approaches, analyzing Indonesian health law, personal data protection law, and electronic information regulations, as well as international instruments such as the UNESCO, OECD, and WHO guidelines on AI governance. The findings indicate that existing legal frameworks in Indonesia remain fragmented and insufficient to comprehensively regulate algorithmic decision-making, explainability requirements, and liability allocation in AI-assisted mental healthcare. Accordingly, this study proposes an integrated governance framework that combines national legal instruments, trustworthy AI principles, and Maqāṣid al-Sharīʿah as normative and ethical foundations for responsible AI deployment. The novelty of this research lies in its doctrinal integration of AI legal accountability with Islamic ethical governance in the mental health context, which has been rarely addressed in previous studies. The contribution of this study is the development of a multidisciplinary governance model that strengthens legal certainty, ethical legitimacy, and patient protection in digital mental health systems. However, this study is limited by its normative doctrinal approach and the absence of empirical validation within healthcare institutions and AI implementation settings.

Rapid digital transformation and increasing cross-border data flows have intensified concerns regarding digital privacy and personal data protection in Southeast Asia. This study aims to analyze the principal legal and institutional challenges hindering the harmonization of digital privacy regulation within ASEAN and to evaluate strategies for strengthening regional digital governance cooperation. Using a normative juridical method with statutory, conceptual, and comparative approaches, this research examines digital governance frameworks in several Southeast Asian countries alongside ASEAN initiatives and international standards such as the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). The study finds that ASEAN member states continue to experience significant disparities in legal definitions, enforcement mechanisms, cybersecurity governance, and institutional capacity, resulting in regulatory fragmentation and weak regional interoperability. The findings further demonstrate that ASEAN’s digital governance framework remains predominantly soft-law oriented and institutionally fragmented, limiting the effectiveness of regional harmonization efforts. In addition, emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence, fintech systems, and biometric data processing create new regulatory challenges concerning accountability, digital sovereignty, and consumer protection. The novelty of this research lies in its integrated comparative analysis combining digital privacy, cybersecurity, artificial intelligence governance, and adaptive governance perspectives within a unified Southeast Asian legal framework, which remains underexplored in previous studies. Nevertheless, this study is limited by its doctrinal and desk-based methodology without empirical investigation or stakeholder interviews.