The AI Act: AI regulation and its implementation in troubled times

  • Panel
  • Café
  • Friday 22.05 — 14:15 - 15:30

Organising Institution

Politecnico di Torino

  • Academic 2
  • Business 1
  • Policy 3
In 2024, the AI Act was announced as a milestone towards global AI regulation, reaffirming the so-called 'Brussels effect'. Two years on, what impact has AI regulation had in Europe and at the global level? To address this key question, the panellists will examine the core elements of the AI Act (AIA) and how they are being implemented in a world characterised by geopolitical tensions. While several features of EU regulation, such as the risk-based approach and protection of fundamental rights, are being endorsed by other legislators, their concrete implementation has suffered from shortcomings, partially reshaping their scope by leveraging the broad definitions provided by the AIA provisions, as well as the lack of concrete methodological implementation. The AIA is both too young and quite old. A paradox that only a crucial regulation in a very complex moment can experience.

Questions to be answered

  1. What impact has AI regulation had in Europe and at the global level?
  2. In the view of the Digital Omnibus ‘simplification measures’, what should be changed and what should be kept of the AI Act?
  3. Will the AI Act be marginalised in the name of geopolitical equilibrium, or will it enable the EU to establish an alternative to market- and state-driven AI regulations, thereby asserting its regulatory sovereignty?
  4. Will the AI Act be de-constructed before we can even see if it works?

Moderator

Alessandro Mantelero

Politecnico di Torino - Italy

Alessandro Mantelero is Associate Professor of Law & Technology. He is a member of the EDPB Support Pool of Experts, the OECD.AI Expert Group, and scientific legal expert on AI for INTERPOL and UNDP. He has held visiting and research positions at several universities, including the Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society, the Oxford Internet Institute, the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya, the Ada Lovelace Institute, and the Universidad de Murcia. He has advised national governments and various organisations, including the Council of Europe, the United Nations, and the European Commission. His latest books are Beyond Data. Human Rights, Ethical and Social Impact Assessment in AI (Springer-Asser, 2022, open access) and Mediterranean Digital Societies. Law and Technology (Hart Publishing, 2026).

Speaker

Gianclaudio Malgieri

Leiden University - Netherlands

Dr. Gianclaudio Malgieri is an Associate Professor of Law & Technology and a Board Member at eLaw – Center for Law and Digital Technologies. He serves as the Honorary Director of the Brussels Privacy Hub, Free University of Brussels (VUB), and as the Managing Editor of Computer Law and Security Review, an External Ethics Expert of the European Commission. He leads the RESOCIAL Project and will lead VaROS (Vulnerability and Resilience in an Online Society), two interdisciplinary projects on social media vulnerability and resilience funded by the Dutch Research Agenda . His field of research and teaching is digital rights, digital vulnerability, digital wellbeing, data protection law, privacy, AI regulation, AI explainability rights, and consumer protection in the digital market. Gianclaudio has authored more than 100 publications, including the book "Vulnerability and Data Protection Law" (Oxford University Press, 2023) and articles in leading international academic journals, and he is the Co-Rapporteur for the American Law Institute - European Law Institute Principles on Biometrics. His works have been cited by, inter alia, top international newspapers (The New York Times, The Washington Post, Al Jazeera, Le Monde, Politico, La Tribune, France Culture, ilSole24Ore, la Repubblica, il Corriere della Sera, Euractiv, the EU Observer) but also institutions, e.g. the European Commission and the Council of Europe, and the Advocate General of the EU Court of Justice.

Speaker

Sonia Perez Romero

EDPS - Europe

Head of Unit AI at the European Data Protection Supervisor