Elpida Vamvakas' speech at the 52nd Book Festival is now available on video!

Homo Digitalis has the great honor to be present at the 52nd Book Festival that took place at Pedion Tou Areos.

Specifically, on Thursday, September 19, our co-founder and President Elpida Vamvaka participated as a speaker in a round table organized at the main stage of the festival by the Association of Book Publishers (S.E.B.) & the Hellenic Comics Academy on the topic “Is art written with AI?”

The discussion was moderated by Panagiotis Papageorgiou (Lawyer, Member of the Greek Comics Academy) and Dimitris Doukoglou (illustrator, presenter, stand-up comedian). Other roundtable speakers include Vassilis Vlahokyrikakos (Associate Professor of Human-Computer Interaction) , Abraham Kawa (Author, Translator & Theorist of Culture) and George Nathaniel (IT and Management Consultant).

The videographer of the event is Dimitrios Bournous and we would like to thank him for the material he shared with us in this regard.

Watch the full statement from Hope here.


Homo Digitalis participates in the European Commission Plenary meeting on the AI Act

September ended with important meetings for Homo Digitalis in the context of the European Regulation on Artificial Intelligence (AI Act) at European level!

Specifically, on September 30th we participated online in the first meeting organized by the AI Office of the European Commission regarding the development of a Code of Practice for General-Purpose AI Systems “Kick-off Plenary: Code of Practice for General-Purpose AI”.

Homo Digitalis has been selected to participate in the relevant working groups that will be formed in order to collaborate with Civil Society organisations and other stakeholders in the coming months in this mission to develop this Code.

We were represented at the online meeting by our Director for AI and Human Rights Lamprini Gyftokosta and our co-founder Eleftherios Chelioudakis.


We give a lecture on AI ACT at company bora

Tomorrow, June 20, Homo Digitalis will give a talk-seminar on AI Act before the workforce and partners of the company bora.

Specifically, Homo Digitalis’ AI & Human Rights Manager, Lamprini Gyftokosta, in a 1-hour web presentation in English, will take a deep dive into the important provisions of the new legislation and discuss relevant compliance challenges with the audience!

Many thanks to bora for the kind invitation to host this seminar, and especially to Anastasios Arampatzis, Joe Pettit & David Turner!

You can learn more about bora here.

If you would also like to invite Homo Digitalis to provide a relevant seminar to your employees, you can express your interest at info@homodigitalis.gr


We coordinate the Digital World Summit Greece web event "AI Board, Advisory Forum and relevant stakeholders: how are private and public sector actors shaping the implementation of the AI Act?"

We invite you to participate in the second Digital World Summit Greece web event on “AI Board, Advisory Forum and relevant stakeholders: how are private and public sector actors shaping the implementation of the AI Act?”, moderated by Homo Digitalis’ AI and Human Rights Director, Lamprini Gyftokosta!

️ Wednesday 17 April

⏲19:00

via YouTube Live, Facebook Live, LinkedIn Live

Speakers:

Tilemachos Moraitis – Government and Corporate Affairs Manager, Microsoft Greece,

Maria Alexandra Papoutsi – AI, Technology & Innovation Manager, KBVL Law Firm | Deloitte Legal

Yiannis Kanellopoulos – CEO, code4thought

Introductory Speech:

Elia Kostopoulou, Member Digital Dialogues

Want to receive a reminder with the event link in your email? Sign up now to join this interesting discussion about the future of our digital world here


We participated with great success in Infolaw 2024

Last Thursday 28 March we had the great honour and pleasure to speek at Infolaw 2024 “Regulating Digital Innovation: AI, Cybersecurity and Platforms” participating in the panel “AI: From Theory to Practice … on AI”.

We were represented there by our co-founder Eleftherios Chelioudakis, who spoke about the challenges posed by Articles 5 and 6 of the AI Act, FRIAs and the tools that civil society has at its disposal to address potential violations of the legal framework.

The panel was moderated by Lillian Mitrou, Professor at the University of the Aegean, Lawyer, and President of the Institute for Privacy, Data Protection and Technology Law with their participants:

-Spyros Vlachopoulos, Professor of Constitutional Law at the School of Law, University of Athens, Greece, Lawyer.
-Telemachos Moraitis, Head of Government Relations at Microsoft for countries in Southeast and Central Eastern Europe, and -Christian Law Professor, University of Athens, Faculty of Law, Law School of Physics and Lawyers, University of Athens, PhD, and -Telemachos Moraitis, Head of Government Relations at Microsoft for countries in Southeast and Central Eastern Europe, and
-Dimitris Kyriazis, Elected Assistant Professor of European Law, Faculty of Law, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki.

We would like to thank once again the organizers for the inclusion and the honorary invitation!

 


Homo Digitalis interview with The Press Project on AI and Democracy

Today, AI is closer than ever to our lives and most of us welcome it with awe and suspicion.

But what is actually happening, and what are the challenges and opportunities that AI creates for our societies and democracy?

Lamprrini Gyftokosta, Director of Artificial Intelligence & Human Rights at Homo Digitalis spoke to The Press Project and journalist Jenny Tsiropoulou about relevant issues, as well as about our dozens of actions in the field of AI over the last 6 years!

You can read the article here.

We would like to thank the journalist for her interest in our actions.

 


We are participating in Infolaw 2024 to talk about AI and the AI Act

Lawspot.gr and the European Young Lawyers Association of Greece (ELSA Greece), organize the third InfoLaw conference entitled “Regulating Digital Innovation: Artificial Intelligence, Cybersecurity and Platforms” on 28 March 2024 at the “Miltiadis Evert” Amphitheatre of Technopolis, Municipality of Athens. This year’s event is supported by Athens Legal Tech and the Hellenic Association for the Protection of Personal Data and Privacy.

Homo Digitalis is honored to be present, participating in Roundtable 1 | AI. The Roundtable is moderated by Lillian Mitrou, Professor at the University of the Aegean, Lawyer, and President of the Institute for Privacy Law, Data Protection and Technology with their participants:

-Spyros Vlachopoulos, Professor of Constitutional Law at the School of Law, University of Athens, Greece, Lawyer.
-Telemachos Moraitis, Head of Government Relations at Microsoft for Southeast and Central Eastern European countries
-Dimitris Kyriazis, Elected Assistant Professor of European Law, Faculty of Law, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, and
-our own Eleftherios Chelioudakis, Co-Founder and Secretary of the Board of Directors of Homo Digitalis

We would like to thank the organizers for the kind invitation, the opportunity to express our views and the inclusion! You can register to follow the very interesting discussions in person, and explore the rich programme here.


We participated at Alan Turing Institute's Workshop on th responsible governance of the use of AI in recruitment and employment’

On the 14th of March, our Director on AI and Human Rights, Lamprini Gyftokosta, participated in an online meeting organised by the Alan Turing Institute “Towards responsible governance of the use of AI in recruitment and employment’. Stakeholders from civil society, government, academia, and industry shared their views on best practices for the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in recruitment and employment, including the development of standards in this field.

Findings from this workshop will help refine the direction and scope of an AI Standards Hub research project led by researchers from The Alan Turing Institute, which will aim to investigate the role of consensus-based standards in governing the use of AI in recruitment and employment across jurisdictional borders.

In Greece, the pilot “AI based strategic workforce planning tool for the public sector” as announced by the Minister of Digital Governance, is an initiative that will apply to more than 700.000 people when completed. As Homo Digitalis underlined during the workshop, harmonised standards in areas like recruitment and employment, even if voluntary, are necessary to create a culture of compliance to the new AI rules. The role of the Greek supervisory authority in enforcing the standards and the law will be paramount, especially since according to the Greek law implementing GDRP, the employees cannot authorise Homo Digitalis to submit a complaint on their behalf without disclosing their names, putting them in an impossible position.


Protect Not Surveil Campaign's Joint Statement: AI Act provisions are dangerous for vulnerable groups in the migration field

On 13 March 2024, the European Parliament adopted the EU Act on Artificial Intelligence (AI ACT).

Although the legislation is widely presented as a global first, the EU AI Act falls short in the important area of migration, as it does not prevent the high risks that exist and does not provide the necessary level of protection to vulnerable groups in society who are targeted by intrusive technologies in this area.

In its final version, the EU AI act sets a dangerous precedent. The legislation develops a separate legal framework for the use of AI by law enforcement, immigration control and national security authorities, providing unjustified ‘loopholes’ in the obligations set out in its text, and even encouraging the use of dangerous systems for surveillance of the most marginalised members of society.

Homo Digitalis, having in the last 4 years made significant legal complaints in this regard before the DPAA, as well as a series of educational, awareness-raising and co-determination actions at EU level in this regard, is following with particular concern the relevant developments.

 

As part of our active participation in the Protect Not Surveil campaign, together with all its members, we have published a joint statement outlining the main gaps in the protection of vulnerable groups in the field of migration identified in the text of the AI Act.

You can read the text of our joint statement here.