We Publish Our Third Study on the AI Act, Focusing on Article 5 & Prohibited Practices
Today, Homo Digitalis publishes its third study on Regulation 2024/1689, the now widely known AI Act, titled “AI Act: Analysis of the Provisions on Prohibited Practices under Article 5 of Regulation 2024/1689.”
The study’s authors are Sofia Antonopoulou, Lamprini Gyftokosta, Tania Skrapalioti, Eleftherios Chelioudakis, and Stavroula Chousou.
This analysis systematically examines each provision of Article 5 of the AI Act, covering manipulative or deceptive techniques, exploitation of vulnerabilities, social behavior scoring, facial recognition databases, crime prediction, emotion inference, biometric categorization systems, and remote biometric identification.
We provide targeted questions highlighting key aspects of these provisions, identifying “gray areas” where ambiguities, overlaps, or interpretative challenges arise. Additionally, we present concrete examples to support our concerns and formulate specific questions for clarification by the European Commission’s AI Office and national legislators.
Like our previous studies (published in October and November 2024), this study aims to assist the Ministry of Digital Governance in implementing the AI Act in Greece. Through in-depth analysis and well-founded arguments, we seek to enrich public debate and empower more civil society organizations to engage actively.
You can read our study “AI Act: Analysis of the Provisions on Prohibited Practices under Article 5 of Regulation 2024/1689” [here].
We Successfully Completed Our Voluntary Awareness Actions in 10 Schools Across Attica for the Period October–December 2024!
During this school year, from October 2024 to December 2024, Homo Digitalis focused its voluntary awareness efforts on schools in Athens!
With the invaluable support of Education Consultant Ms. Christina Kalfoglou, Psychologist Ms. Elina Kardara, and School Consultant Ms. Maria Panta, we visited 10 schools (public and private junior and high schools) and conducted 16 presentations for approximately 1,400 students, educators, and parents on the topics digital footprint and cyberbullying.
We learned a great deal about the apps children use and the risks they face on various social media platforms. We also discussed the challenges they encounter when trying to report issues on these platforms, often without resolving their problems!
Students shared incidents of cyberbullying and online violence with us, and we talked about ways to address and support them. Educators, on the other hand, expressed their concerns and raised thought-provoking questions regarding the use of mobile phones and artificial intelligence tools in schools.
Yesterday, we concluded our awareness actions for the first trimester of the 2024–2025 school year with an informational event at the 59th Junior High School of Athens, where we spoke with teachers and members of the parents association and teachers about the digital footprint, new digital risks such as deepfakes, misinformation, disinformation, and echo chambers, as well as the Kids Wallet initiative proposed by the Ministry of Digital Governance!
A big thank you to our members, board members, and employees: Sofia Antonopoulou, Niki Georgakopoulou, Lamprini Gyftokosta, and Konstantinos Kakavoulis for their active participation and outstanding contribution to these initiatives!
Together, we are building a safer and more informed digital community!
Presentation to Educators in Larissa on Cyberbullying
On November 18th, at the invitation of the Educational Advisor for Primary School Teachers in Larissa, Ms. Vasiliki Pilatou, our member Anastasios Arampatzis delivered a presentation to sixth-grade teachers from Ms. Pilatou’s district on the topic of cyberbullying.
The educators expressed great interest in our initiatives and presentation, engaging with us in discussions on questions about cyberbullying as well as critical reflections on the current implementation of the Stop Bullying platform developed by the Ministry of Education, Religious Affairs, and Sports.
Homo Digitalis remains at the disposal of educators, parents, and students to inform them about their rights in the digital space and to highlight their concerns.
Eleftherios Chelioudakis of Homo Digitalis as a Trainer in a second OSCE ODIHR Training on Personal Data & Border Management
From October 29 to 31, Eleftherios Chelioudakis, our Co-founder and Executive Director, participated as a trainer in a training session organized by the international organization OSCE, specifically its Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR). The training explored the use of new technologies at international borders, as well as the risks and opportunities they pose for Human Rights.
In our five presentations, we focused on the technologies used at borders, the Human Rights impacted by these uses, the provisions of the GDPR and Directive 2016/680 LED, the significant decision by the Hellenic Data Protection Authority (HDPA) regarding the “KENTAYROS” and “YPERION” systems, as well as technical tools that human rights defenders can use in their work!
We extend our heartfelt thanks to the participants for their dynamic presence, to the team of outstanding trainers Nikola Kovačević, Djordje Alempijevic, and Arancha Garcia del Soto for their knowledge and expertise, and to the organizing team, Lola Girard and Veronica Grazzi, for their impeccable organization and contributions. It is a great honor for us to participate!
You can learn more here.
We give a lecture at the OSCE's three-day training seminar on the protection of human rights at the borders
The OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) organizes next week its training course for human rights defenders working at international borders in Warsaw! The three-day training course aims to enable human rights defenders to understand the human rights implications of border technologies and to improve their skills in collecting and verifying information through various means, including new technologies, for effective human rights monitoring at borders.
On a pro bono basis, Homo Digitalis and HIAS Greece will give a lecture during the training course related to our great success with the KENTAUROS and HYPERION case!
Our lecture titled “Combating Centaurs and Titans – Leveraging Data Protection Law to Counter Intrusive Surveillance in Migration” will focus on how data protection law can be strategically employed to challenge invasive surveillance technologies used in migration. Eleftherios Chelioudakis will represent Homo Digitalis in this lecture.
We would like to thank the organizers for their kind invitation, as well as HIAS Greece for the great collaboration.
You can find more information about the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) here.
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
Homo Digitalis is a member of the Europeana Network Association (ENA)
Homo Digitalis is now a member of the Europeana Network Association (ENA)! ENA is under the auspices of the Digital Library Europeana, which offers access to millions of books, maps, audio recordings, photographs, archival documents, paintings and films, as well as other materials from national libraries and cultural institutions in the 27 Member States of the European Union. ENA is a strong and democratic community of people working, studying or interested in digital cultural heritage and the use of new technologies in education and the arts.
Homo Digitalis is involved in three different working groups: The EuropeanaTech Community, the Europeana Education Community και the Europeana Copyright!
Despite the fact that we have already been in contact since 2018 and have participated in events and presentations of Europeana’s work, it is a great honour and pleasure for Homo Digitalis to be now an official member of ENA!
In these working groups we will be represented by our Co-Founder, Eleftherios Chelioudakis.
We submitted our report to the UN Special Rapporteur on the right to education regarding the use of AI in education
The United Nations Special Rapporteur on the right to education, Ms Farida Shaheed is preparing her upcoming report for the UN General Assembly in October 2024 on the promotion of the right to education based on artificial intelligence tools.
Homo Digitalis, after completing a tour of schools and conversations with teachers, students and parents, believes that the contribution of civil society with a practical look at this issue is important!
For this reason we have submitted our report before her on Monday 27 May. We would like to thank Anastasios and Viliy Karagiorgou and Lamprini Gyftokosta for their important contribution to the drafting and filing of this report!
We spoke at an event hosted by KEPSIPI in the context of the Erasmus+ Digital Learning and Social Intervention programme
On Thursday 23rd of May we had the pleasure to participate in the event organized by KEPSIPI in the framework of the Erasmus+ Digital Learning and Social Intervention project and to talk about digital learning and the importance of personal data for social workers from Greece, Belgium, France, Luxembourg and Romania and the challenges of using AI tools in the field of social intervention. We would like to thank Ms. Margarita Moraitou for the invitation and her efforts to highlight this issue both nationally and European-wide.
Our Director for AI and New Technologies, Lamprini Gyftokosta, spoke representing Homo Digitalis at the event.
You can learn more about the work and activities of the Centre for Mental and Pedagogical Health here.