The lawyer and researcher Victor Habib Lantyer He was one of the winners of the Ministro Gama Filho Award (2025 Edition), promoted by the School of Accounts and Management of the TCE-RJ (ECG/TCE-RJ), linked to the Court of Accounts of the State of Rio de Janeiro (TCE-RJ). He won the... 2nd place with the monograph “"Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Predictive Fraud Analysis in Public Contracts: Limits of Legality and Technical Discretion."”
The award, traditionally given to encourage applied research on topics relevant to public administration, had as its theme... “"Artificial Intelligence and External Control"” and recognized the three best works, in addition to awarding honorable mentions.
https://www.tcerj.tc.br/portalecg/pagina/premio_ministro_gama_filho_2025
What is the Ministro Gama Filho Award and why does it matter?
The Minister Gama Filho Award is an annual award that seeks to recognize and recognize the Minister Gama Filho Prize. to stimulate studies and research in areas of interest to public administration, with presentations in the form of monographs. In the 2025 edition, the focus was on discussing how AI can (and should) be used to modernize external control — without "overriding" legality, guarantees, and transparency.
In addition to institutional recognition, the event includes financial prizes for the top three finishers.
The award-winning study: Predictive AI to detect fraud — and the “invisible boundary” of the law.
In the work that secured him second place, Victor Habib Lantyer discusses the use of predictive analytics to highlight patterns and risks of fraud in public procurement — but with a straightforward message: AI is not a magic wand., ...and the biggest risk is turning "probability" into "conviction by default".
In practice, the text targets the point where many initiatives die (or worse, become an institutional headache): the "how"“. What criteria underpin the model? Can the logic be explained? Is there governance? What about due process, accountability, and transparency?
The idea is simple and powerful: Without legal frameworks, AI becomes a buzzword in suits and ties. Beautiful on screen, dangerous in the real world.
Official results: who were the winners of the 2025 edition?
In the results approved by the ECG/TCE-RJ, the following monographs were recognized:
- 1st place: Impacts of Artificial Intelligence on External Control: A Dichotomous View — Daniel Quintão de Moraes
- 2nd place: Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Predictive Fraud Analysis in Public Contracts: Limits of Legality and Technical Discretion — Victor Habib Lantyer
- 3rd place: Artificial Intelligence Applied to Auditing: Detecting Misstatements in Public Spending Using Machine Learning Algorithms — Fabrício Carvalho Macieira and Joelson Oliveira Úbida Sampaio
- Honorable mentions:
- Accountability of AI Systems in the Public Sector: The Role of Courts of Auditors in Guaranteeing Fundamental Rights — Heloisa Midlej Cardoso Seixas
- Learning How to Ask: Simplifying Advanced Prompt Engineering Techniques for Use in Audits at Courts of Accounts Jonas Gomes de Sousa and Ilana Trombka
The approval of the final result is dated January 26, 2026.
Where AI truly helps — and where it becomes a disguised legal risk.
The topic is relevant for a very down-to-earth reason: regulatory bodies deal with massive volume of data, contracts, expenses and documents, And AI can support audits, monitoring, and risk assessment. This is even reflected in the syllabus of the 2025 edition, which mentions audit automation, continuous monitoring, and predictive analytics for selecting areas for inspection.
But the legal safety net is non-negotiable. When AI enters the scene, certain "points of friction" become mandatory:
- Verifiable criteria and motivation (the decision cannot be "because the algorithm sensed it")
- Transparency and traceability (auditing the system itself)
- Data governance and management (quality, biases, access, life cycle)
- Explainability proportional to impact (How much you need to explain depends on the potential harm)
- Due process and contestation (Contradictory is not a luxury accessory)
- Responsibility and accountability (Who's responsible when things go wrong?)
Next step: dialogue with those who experience public procurement in the real world.
The message of the award-winning work speaks directly to those on the front lines: public procurement, compliance, auditing, integrity and technology. The goal is quite practical: to separate AI that reduces risk and increases efficiency from AI that only creates... Legal liability disguised as innovation.
If your team is implementing (or considering implementing) AI in public procurement, auditing, or integrity, the conversation is simple: Where AI truly helps — and where it becomes a disguised legal risk..
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