Artificial intelligence is rapidly permeating diverse domains. In the criminal procedural field, AI is enhancing the efficiency of law enforcement authorities and criminal justice systems in both preventing and prosecuting crimes, through the streamlining of tasks like data analysis, evidence assessment, and crime prediction. Despite this accelerating trend, a conspicuous gap persists due to the lack of a clear and comprehensive legal framework at both national and supranational levels. An additional factor hindering a responsible and beneficial implementation of AI in the criminal procedural sector is that some technical characteristics of the AI prototypes developed so far (e.g. opacity) interfere with some criminal procedural principles and standards. The lack of dialogue between legal scholarship and scientific community prevents the identification of suitable technical solutions. Given this scenario, managing the legal and ethical implications of AI in the criminal justice system proves to be a prohibitive challenge. The aim of FUTURE is twofold: to support national legislators across the EU in the regulation of artificial intelligence in criminal procedure, while fostering a harmonized approach to the subject; to bridge the gap between the technical and the legal community, ensuring the compliance of AI systems implemented in the criminal procedural field with its principles and safeguards. To achieve these objectives, FUTURE will firstly employ the legal comparison method in a groundbreaking manner: it will be applied on a comprehensive legal and empirical data set, covering all EU Member States’ jurisdictions. Secondly, it will bridge the expertise of legal and computer science professionals, giving them the first tangible chance to investigate the technical issues obstructing the use of AI in criminal proceedings and to assess the feasibility of technical solutions.