Towards fairness and non-discrimination in AI: sensitive data processing and beyond

  • Panel
  • Class Room
  • Wednesday 20.05 — 14:15 - 15:30

Organising Institution

Centre for Democracy and Technology Europe

Europe

The Centre for Democracy and Technology Europe is a Brussels-based non-governmental organisation advocating for the promotion and protection of democracy and human rights in European tech law and policy.
  • Academic 2
  • Business 1
  • Policy 3
The proposed Digital Omnibus has prompted an intense debate on the necessary interventions to ensure entities developing and using AI are able to identify and rectify bias and discrimination. Far from a one-size-fits-all solution, different use cases and deployment contexts warrant distinct approaches to both identification and correction of discrimination. This session will discuss how to practically navigate trade-offs between privacy and non-discrimination, the regulatory tools and opportunities offered by the EU legal framework, and the necessary changes to empower AI and fundamental rights regulators to robustly enforce existing fundamental rights.

Questions to be answered

  1. Is there consensus on the meaning of debiasing?
  2. Who can meaningfully undertake bias assessments and mitigations, and at what stage?
  3. When mitigating measures fail, what technical and policy responses are needed?
  4. What challenges still exist in enabling regulators to act promptly in suspected illegal bias cases?

Speaker

Miranda Bogen

Center for Democracy and Technology - International

Miranda Bogen is CDT's Chief Technologist and founding Director of CDT’s AI Governance Lab. Having held roles at Meta and Upturn, Miranda has helped to develop technical contributions including highlighting the potential for discrimination in personalised advertising, developing AI benchmarks to measure bias and robustness, and privacy-preserving methods to measure racial disparities in AI systems.

Speaker

Nele Roekens

Equinet - Belgium

Nele Roekens is Project Manager for Strategic Litigation on AI at Equinet, the European Network of Equality Bodies, where she works at EU level to advance equality and fundamental rights through AI‑related litigation and legal strategy. She brings over eight years of experience from a national Fundamental Rights Authority, leading work on emerging technologies and non‑discrimination. Previously, Nele chaired the European Network of National Human Rights Institutions’ Working Group on AI and represented ENNHRI at the Council of Europe’s Committee on Artificial Intelligence (CAI). She also served as an independent expert to the Council of Europe’s Committee of Experts on Artificial Intelligence, Equality, and Discrimination (GEC/ADI‑AI).

Speaker

Isabel Barberá

Dutch Coordinating Supervisor on AI and Algorithms (DCA), Dutch DPA - Netherlands

Isabel Barberá works as Senior Advisor for the Dutch Coordinating Supervisor on AI and Algorithms (DCA) at the Autoriteit Persoonsgegevens (AP), the Dutch DPA. She also serves as an expert for the Council of Europe’s Data Protection Unit, where she researches privacy risks, mitigations, and evaluation methods for Large Language Models and agentic AI. She contributes as an expert to the development of European AI standards on risk management and cybersecurity at CEN/CENELEC and is a member of ENISA’s Ad Hoc Working Group on Data Protection Engineering. Through the EDPB’s Support Pool of Experts, she has contributed in the past to several AI-related projects, in particular the report she authored on privacy risks in Large Language Models, has gained significant attention and recognition. Isabel is also an independent researcher on AI risks and safety, contributing to various international initiatives. She is the author of PLOT4AI, an open-source threat modeling framework designed to support the identification of AI risks during the development and deployment of AI systems.

Speaker

Anahita Valakche

Microsoft - International

Anahita is part of Microsoft’s Responsible AI Public Policy and European Government Affairs teams, which seek to advance effective and interoperable public policy that helps Microsoft, our customers, and the world secure the benefits while ensuring trustworthy development and deployment of AI. Anahita specializes in EU policy on AI and data protection, with a focus on Microsoft's AI Act compliance and participation in the General-Purpose AI Code of Practice. Before joining the Office of Responsible AI, Anahita worked on data protection and human rights due diligence as part of Microsoft's European Government Affairs team. Prior to joining Microsoft, Anahita focused on cybersecurity and privacy law and policy issues at Dell Technologies. Anahita has a BA in Government and Art from Colby College, and an MA in International Relations and Global Conflict Studies from Leiden University.