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 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!
The Hellenic Data Protection Authority fines the Ministry of Migration and Asylum for the "Centaurus" and "Hyperion" systems with the largest penalty ever imposed to a Greek public body
Two years ago, in February 2022, Homo Digitalis had filed a complaint against the Ministry of Immigration and Asylum for the “Centaurus” and “Hyperion” systems deployed in the reception and accommodation facilities for asylum seekers, in cooperation with the civil society organizations Hellenic League for Human Rights and HIAS Greece, as well as the academic Niovi Vavoula.
Today, the Hellenic Data Protection Authority identified significant GDPR violations in this case by the Ministry of Immigration and Asylum and decided to impose a fine of €175.000 euro – the highest ever imposed against a public body in the country.
The detailed analysis of the GDPR highlights the significant shortcomings that the Ministry of Immigration and Asylum had fallen into in the context of preparing a comprehensive and coherent Data Protection Impact Assessment, and demonstrates the significant violations of the GDPR that have been identified and relate to a large number of subjects who have a real hardship in being able to exercise their rights.
Despite the fact that the DPA remains understaffed, with a reduced budget, facing even the the risk of eviction from its premises, it manages to fulfil its mission and maintain citizens’ trust in the Independent Authorities. It remains to be seen how long the DPA will last if the state does not stand by its side.
Of course, nothing ends here. A high fine does not in itself mean anything. The Ministry of Immigration and Asylum must comply within 3 months with its obligations. However, the decision gives us the strength to continue our actions in the field of border protection in order to protect the rights of vulnerable social groups who are targeted by highly intrusive technologies.
You can read our press release here.
You can read Decision 13/2024 on the Authority’s website here.
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 talk to Inside.story about intellectual property and generative AI models
The Director for Human Rights & Artificial Intelligence of Homo Digitalis, Lamprini Gyftokosta, spoke to Inside.story and journalist Irini Sotiropoulou about intellectual property and generative AI models in an excellent article she has prepared on the New York Times case!!
You can read the article here.
We would like to thank the journalist for her interest in our actions.
Homo Digitalis on the European AI & Society Fund's list of AI experts
The European AI & Society Fund has published on its website a Register of Experts on issues related to the fields of Human Rights and AI, from its partner organisations.
We are honored and delighted that Homo Digitalis is in this registry with dual representation from our Director of Human Rights & AI, Lambrini Gftokosta and our Board Secretary, Lefteris Chelioudakis
You can see in detail the members of the register and the variety of topics in which they specialize here.
Many thanks to the European AI & Society Fund for the opportunity to promote Homo Digitalis' expertise and knowledge internationally!
We talk to Balkan Insight and News 24/7 about AI and its use in border protection
Homo Digitalis Co-Founder and Secretary of the Board of Directors, Eleftherios Chelioudakis, spoke to journalist Eftichia Soufleri about the use of artificial intelligence systems in the field of migration and border management, highlighting the important legal actions of Homo Digitalis in this regard, before the Data Protection Authority and other competent bodies.
You can read the article on the Balkan Insight website in English here or the News 24/7 website in Greek here.
We would like to thank the journalist for her interest in our actions.