My - for now - final overview of external activities is concluding more than two years (July 2022 to July 2024) of constant public engagement in order to make EU law-making more transparent and to inform the public about the chances but also the challenges that arise with the new EU AI Act.
What gave me the energy to go through this crazy schedule? It was the observation that even though the citizens' trust in the EU Institutions continues to fall, there is in fact a general trend among EU officials from all three EU institutions to retreat into Brussels' ivory tower. The reasons are manifold: a flood of information, strict hierarchies, tight deadlines or overworked staff. You could argue that today's EU law-making takes place in an environment that makes the execution of lengthy consultations or the inclusion of various stakeholders very difficult. Some individuals might also enjoy their role as information gatekeeper, believing that they know best anyway. Whatever the specific reason for not involving stakeholders in a specific legislative process is, it is clearly not helping to rebuild public trust in the EU.
From the beginning, Axel Voss and I wanted to use the AI Act to show that you can still approach legislative proposals differently. That ambitious but at the same time accessible, balanced and evidence-based law making is still possible today. We tried to make the political process transparent, for instance by informing the public regularly via social media, by conducting several public consultations, by organising regular info sessions, and by using almost every possibility that we were offered to speak on events about the AI Act. Despite strong internal pushbacks and political defeats during the legislative negotiations, Axel and I are super grateful about your positive feedback and your enthusiasm when engaging with us. Your reactions clearly illustrate how much people appreciate it to be involved and be informed.
We hope that our activities have also convinced others in Brussels to go similar ways, eventually allowing us to join forces and to bring back transparent EU policies that are fully in line with our Better Regulation commitments. To end on a positive note: the recent announcement of a multi-stakeholder approach for the GPAI Code of Practice by the EU AI Office is an example of what we hope to see more again! 👏
After this lengthy intro, let’s finally talk about the core topic of this post. Find below my June/July summary with links and more info about my external activities in the past eight weeks. Trips brought me to London, Amsterdam, Cambridge, Berlin, Luxemburg, and The Hague. In total, I did 23 events as speaker, recorded 8 podcasts / interviews, released 4 publications, and was quoted 17x by the press.
🎤 03 Jun: Panelist on 'KI-Regulierung weltweit im Spannungsfeld zwischen Innovation, Demokratie und Schutz von Menschenrechten' during the '2024 Deutscher Anwaltstag', a conference organized by Deutscher Anwaltverein (DAV). More info here.
🎤 03 Jun: Panelist on the 'Implementation of the AI Act' as part of Holistic AI's Policy Connect series with Osman Gazi Güçlütürk. More info here.
🎤 04 Jun: Keynote on the AI Act and panelist on 'Epochs of Privacy: the future history of identity integrity' with Max Schrems during the 'European Identity & Cloud Conference' by KuppingerCole Analysts AG in #Berlin. More info here.
🎧 05 Jun: Recorded an episode of the ‘Influencers Podcast’ on the EU AI Act with Leopold von Gerlach and Hogan Lovells. Listen to it here.
📖 05 Jun: Mentioned by Svenja Hahn in her article for Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung on 'AI Office: Bitte nicht noch eine praxisferne Behörde'. Read it here.
🎤 05 Jun: Panelist on 'AI Act & Marketing: What are the Practical Implications for you?' with Enrico Girotto from FEDMA at IAPP - International Association of Privacy Professionals's 'AI Governance Global' conference. More info here.
📖 05 Jun: Quoted by Luca Bertuzzi on 'Mistral AI was in Microsoft talks while lobbying EU AI Act negotiatiors for looser rules, Smith suggests' published by MLex. Read it here.
🎤 06 Jun: Online keynote on the EU AI Act at Simmons & Simmons' Digital Day conference with Christopher Götz, LL.M. (New York). More info here.
🎧 06 Jun: Interview with Ron De Jesus from Transcend on the EU AI Act. Watch it here.
📖 06 Jun: Published together with J. Scott Marcus, Kamil Sekut, Hèctor Badenes Rodríguez and Bruegel - Improving economic policy our new dataset on 'A dataset on EU legislation for the digital world'. Access it here.
🎤 07 Jun: Online panelist on AI Governance with Philipp Hacker during the conference on 'The Rule of law in the era of Integrity & Compliance' organised by Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München. More info here.
📖 07 Jun: Mentioned by POLITICO Europe in their 'Morning Tech' newsletter. More info here.
📖 07 Jun: Mentioned in Euractiv's 'Tech Brief' newsletter written by Eliza Gkritsi. Read it here.
🎤 10 Jun: Online keynote and Q&A at Ernst & Young's workshop with Dean Protheroe called 'EMEIA Consulting - AI impact'.
🎤 10 Jun: Recorded fireplace chat for FERMA | Federation of European Risk Management Association webinar on 'Risk managers and the AI Act' with Charles Low and Typhaine Beaupérin. More info here.
📖 11 Jun: Mentioned in blog post on 'Die neue KI-Verordnung der EU - ein Überblick' written by Mailin Langhagen from asd-law. More info here.
🎤 11 Jun: Panelist on 'Balancing Innovation and Regulation - Deciding the Future of AI' during London Tech Week 2024 with Emma Wright in #London. More info here.
📖 11 Jun: Mentioned by mLex on 'EU AI Act first movers may receive ‘VIP treatment’ by understaffed AI regulators' in an article written by Frank Hersey. Read it here.
📖 11 Jun: Quoted in 'London Tech Week 2024 snapshots: AI, semiconductor, deep tech, start-up and international collaboration across the pond’ with Jerry Chen from the Digitimes. Read it here.
🎤 12 Jun: Online panelist on 'High impact, low risk use cases: KI-Einsatz für maximale Wettbewerbsfähigkeit und minimales technisches & rechtliches Risiko' during the 'Datenschutz & KI Summit' organized by lawpilots with Lina Rembold. More info here.
📖 12 Jun: Mentioned in ‘Marketing sits in a gray zone under EU AI Act’ written by Caitlin Andrews for IAPP - International Association of Privacy Professionals. Read it here.
🎤 12 Jun: Panelist on 'AI in the public sector: friend or foe?' during the The AI Summit 2024 in #London with Nikos Loutas. More info here.
🎤 12 Jun: Online keynote at the 'Mediaspace Global Leadership Club' event with Kinga Incze. More info here.
🎤 13 Jun: Panelist on 'Unpacking the AI Act: Progress, prospects, and industry implications' with Karen Silverman and Emmanuel Kahembwe during The AI Summit 2024 in #London. More info here.
🎤 13 Jun: Panelist on 'Next AI Frontier – Robots, Brain Chips, AGI: How to innovate responsibly?' during the The AI Summit in London 2024 with Uthman Ali and Giovanni Leoni in #London. More info here.
🎧 17 Jun: Podcast for cyen.eu on 'The final AI Act and what to do now' with Iva Tasheva. Listen to it here.
📖 19 Jun: Mentioned by Julian Jaursch in ‘A Look Ahead at EU Digital Regulation: Oversight Structures in the Member States’ for interface. Read it here.
🎤 20 Jun: Online Keynote on the AI Act during the 'Sustainability Expo' summit. More info here.
📖 21 Jun: Interview with Jerry Chen from the Digitimes on 'From Brussels to the world: EU AI Act advisor on shaping the future of AI regulation'. Read it here.
☀️ --- Family holidays in Albania --- ☀️
🎤 26 Jun: Keynote at the conference on ‘AI Governance and Regulation’ with Prof. Moustafa Nawito organised by IU Internationale Hochschule Campus Bad Reichenhall.
🎤 26 Jun: Panelist on ‘Elevating Europe's Digital Leadership: Competitiveness and Sovereignty in the Age of AI and Cloud computing’ with Jakob Mökander at an event organised from Tony Blair Institute for Global Change (TBI) and Oracle. Read more here.
🎤 28 Jun: Keynote on ‘ALTI talks: ‘A different approach to the AI Act - military & outer space domains' with Ioana Bratu and Amsterdam Law & Technology Institute in #Amsterdam. More info here.
📖 02 July: Published a document that illustrate the relationship between recitals and articles of the EU AI Act. Read it here.
🎤 03 July: Panelist on 'EU strategy for data, its interplay with the bloc’s data protection regime and its competitiveness' during the Privacy Laws & Business conference with Stewart Dresner in #Cambridge. More info here.
📖 04 July: Mentioned in POLITICO Europe's Morning Tech newsletter with regard to my published document on the relationship between Recitals and Articles in the AI Act. Read it here.
🎤 06 July: Panelist on 'Between Utopian Visions and Dystopian Warnings - What Can AI Contribute to Social and Sustainable Progress?' with Oliver Lauenstein at the Herthie School Summit 2024 in #Berlin. More info here.
📖 10 July: Published a document that summarises and visualises the tasks that the EU AI Act gives the European Commission / AI Office. Read it here.
🎤 10 July: Keynote on 'AI & competitiveness' at the 'Luxembourg EU Summer School' organized by European Court of Auditors with David Newton in #Luxembourg. More info here.
🎤 11 July: Keynote on 'Wie kann Bayern sich in die Implementierung des AI-Acts einbringen, um Bürokratisierungsrisiken zu minimieren’ during the Hanns-Seidel-Stiftung conference on 'The AI Act: the clock is ticking' with Johannes Welsch. More info here.
🎧 11 July: Podcast with Oles Andriychuk on 'AI and competiviness' for the Digital Market Research Hub of University of Newcastle. Listen to it here.
📖 12 July: Quoted by MLex on 'EU AI Act enters law but remains a work in progress, with some problems already clear' written by Luca Bertuzzi. Read it here.
📖 12 July: Mentioned in Table.Media’s ‘Europa Briefing’ on ‘Europas neue Rolle in der Nato + Zeitdruck beim AI Act’ written by Corinna Visser. Read it here.
📖 16 July: Quoted in the Financial Times article on 'Europe's rushed attempt to set the rules for AI' written by Javier Espinoza. Read it here.
📖 17 July: Mentioned in 'What Is Emerging in Artificial Intelligence Systems?' written by Darria Kim in Max Planck Law Perspectives. Read it here.
📖 18 July: Quoted by Tagesspiegel Background Digitalisierung & KI for an article on 'AI ACT - Was jetzt wirklich drinsteht' written by Maximilian Henning. Read it here.
🎤 18 July: Panelist on 'Global approaches to AI Regulation' at International Data Law Forum in #TheHague with Marcus Evans. More info here.
📖 23 July: Published a document that summarises and visualises the tasks that the EU AI Act gives Member States. Read it here.
📖 23 July: Quoted in 'AI Act: Übersicht zu Fristen und Verantwortlichkeiten' by Corinna Visser from Table.Media. Read it here.
🎧 29 July: Podcast with Adam Gale from NetAPP on the AI Act. Listen to it here.
🎧 29 July: Podcast with Barry Scannell from William Fry on the AI Act. Read it here.
🎧 30 July: Interview with James Boyd-Wallis from Appraise Network. Read it here.
📖 31 July: Mentioned in POLITICO Europe's Morning Tech newsletter with regard to my new AI textbook. Read it here.
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