European Commission, Directorate-General for Communications Networks, Content and Technology (CNECT), 2024.

A study commissioned by the European Commission highlights the significant potential of Artificial Intelligence (AI) to improve public sector services across the EU. The report emphasizes that AI can enhance citizen-government interactions, boost analytical capabilities, and increase efficiency in key areas such as healthcare, mobility, e-Government, and education. These sectors are identified as among the most ready for large-scale AI deployment, with applications ranging from autonomous vehicles and smart traffic systems to AI-driven healthcare solutions and education technologies.

European Data Protection Supervisor, AI Act Regulation (EU) 2024/1689 – Regulation (EU) 2024/1689 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 June 2024 laying down harmonised rules on artificial intelligence and amending Regulations (EC) No 300/2008, (EU) No 167/2013, (EU) No 168/2013, (EU) 2018/858, (EU) 2018/1139 and (EU) 2019/2144 and Directives 2014/90/EU, (EU) 2016/797 and (EU) 2020/1828 (Artificial Intelligence Act) (Text with EEA relevance), Publications Office of the European Union, 2025, https://data.europa.eu/doi/10.2804/4225375

The purpose of this Regulation is to improve the functioning of the internal market and promote the uptake of human-centric and trustworthy artificial intelligence (AI), while ensuring a high level of protection of health, safety, fundamental rights enshrined in the Charter, including democracy, the rule of law and environmental protection, against the harmful effects of AI systems in the Union and supporting innovation.

European Commission: Directorate-General for Digital Services, Fitsilis, F. and Mikros, G., AI-based solutions for legislative drafting in the EU – Summary report, Publications Office of the European Union, 2024.

This publication provides an overview of the results of a European Union (EU) funded study entitled “Overview of smart functionalities in drafting legislation in LEOS”. The full study has been published on the European Commission's (EC) Joinup platform and centres on the concept of smart functionalities in law-making, i.e., advanced Information (and Communication) Technologies (I[C]T) services that assist legal drafters and policy developers in their daily work. The underlying research was conducted in view of the development of an “augmented LEOS”, an open-source solution developed by the EC for drafting legislation.

Europol, AI and policing – The benefits and challenges of artificial intelligence for law enforcement, Publications Office of the European Union, 2024.

Technology has a major impact on the nature of crime. Criminals quickly integrate new technologies into their modus operandi, or build brand-new business models around them. At the same time, emerging technologies create opportunities for law enforcement to counter these new criminal threats. Thanks to technological innovation, law enforcement authorities can now access an increased number of suitable tools to fight crime. When exploring these new tools, respect for fundamental rights must remain a key consideration.

European Commission: European Education and Culture Executive Agency, Publications Office of the European Union, 2023.

Publication metadata
We have seen in the previous discussion and scenarios that AI has the potential to deliver great benefits for education. However, we have also seen that there are also risks associated with its use. In many cases, we may determine that these are minimal risk. Examples we’ve discussed include the provision of formative feedback, help for teachers in creating lesson plans, and assistance in some of the administrative functions of schools. As we move away from the use of AI as a support system, so the risk increases. As we have seen, using AI for learning analytics may help teachers adjust their teaching strategies to cater to individual needs.

European Commission: Directorate-General for Digital Services, Brizuela, A., Combetto, M., Kotoglou, S., Galasso, G. et al., Analysis of the generative AI landscape in the European public sector, Publications Office of the European Union, 2025, https://data.europa.eu/doi/10.2799/0409819

This report provides a broad description of the adoption of generative AI (or GenAI) within the European public sector. It focuses on (i) guidelines and policies adopted within administrations to regulate the use of this emerging technology; and (ii) the multiple applications and use cases found in the Public Sector Tech Watch observatory. The public sector is quickly adopting GenAI solutions, but administrations are facing daily challenges related to implementation processes and effective public-private collaborations. Administrations are also facing other challenges in their regulatory eff o r t s , primarily centred around human oversight; accountability; the importance of data protection; and governance, safety, fairness and transparency.

European Data Protection Supervisor, Publications Office of the European Union, 2024.

The European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS) is the European Union’s independent data protection authority responsible for supervising the processing of personal data by the European institutions, bodies, offices and agencies (EUIs). We advise EUIs on new legislative proposals and initiatives related to the protection of personal data. We monitor the impact of new technologies on data protection and cooperate with supervisory authorities to ensure the consistent enforcement of EU data protection rules.

European Parliament: Directorate-General for External Policies of the Union and Ünver, A., Publications Office of the European Union, 2024.

This in-depth analysis (IDA) explores the most prominent actors, cases and techniques of algorithmic authoritarianism together with the legal, regulatory and diplomatic framework related to AI-based biases as well as deliberate misuses. With the world leaning heavily towards digital transformation, AI’s use in policy, economic and social decision-making has introduced alarming trends in repressive and authoritarian agendas. Such misuse grows ever more relevant to the European Parliament, resonating with its commitment to safeguarding human rights in the context of digital trans-formation.

European Commission: Directorate-General for Economic and Financial Affairs, Simons, W., Turrini, A. and Vivian, L., Artificial intelligence – Economic impact, opportunities, challenges, implications for policy, Publications Office of the European Union, 2024.

This discussion paper presents the key features of Artificial Intelligence (AI), highlighting the main differences with respect to previous IT and digital technologies. It presents the most relevant facts about AI diffusion across EU countries, and discusses the main economic implications, focusing especially on its impact on productivity and labour markets. While AI presents a formidable opportunity, it also entails major challenges, with implications for policy. This paper focuses on policies to remove bottlenecks to AI development and adoption, regulatory policies, competition policy, policies to deal with labour market and distributive implications.

Europol, Assessing technology in law enforcement – A method for ethical decision-making, Publications Office of the European Union, 2025.

Europol was mandated in 2019 by the EU Justice and Home Affairs ministers to create an Innovation Lab to support the law enforcement community in the area of innovation. The Lab aims to identify, promote and develop concrete innovative solutions in support of the EU Member States’ operational work. These will help investigators and analysts to make the most of the opportunities offered by new technology to avoid duplication of work, create synergies and pool resources. The activities of the Lab are directly linked to the strategic priorities as laid out in Europol Strategy 2020+, which states that Europol shall be at the forefront of law enforcement innovation and research.

European Commission: Joint Research Centre, Medaglia, R., Mikalef, P. and Tangi, L., Competencies and governance practices for AI in the public sector, Publications Office of the European Union, 2024.

Publication metadata
The diffusion of artificial intelligence (AI) in the public sector depends largely on ensuring the presence of appropriate competences and establishing appropriate governance practices to deploy solutions. This report builds on a synthesis of empirical research, grey and policy literature, on an expert workshop and on interviews from seven case studies of European public organisations to identify the competences and governance practices around AI required to enable value generation in the public sector. Based on the analysis, we present a comprehensive framework for relevant competences and a framework for the governance practices for AI in the public sector. The report also introduces six recommendations to be implemented through 18 actions to facilitate the development of the competences and governance practices needed for AI in the public sector in Europe.

European Commission: Directorate-General for Research and Innovation and Publications Office of the European Union, Publications Office of the European Union, 2024.

Publication metadata
Scientific and technological advancements raise complex ethical questions and may have significant societal impacts. The responsible and ethical use of scientific discoveries and novel technologies requires that reflection on the impacts and potential misuse of new technological developments is incorporated into the research process. The eight Horizon-funded projects featured in this Pack invite a rethinking of research governance systems, to ensure that scientific and technological progress, in all areas, goes hand in hand with the values we hold dear.

European Commission: Directorate-General for Research and Innovation, Publications Office of the European Union, 2024.

n July 2023, the EC published a stakeholder survey aimed at gathering insights from experts in the road transport community regarding the status of CCAM in Europe. The survey was structured according to four main themes related to CCAM: 1) potential and impact, 2) expectations, 3) governance and 4) readiness. In total, the answers from 276 respondents, very or somewhat familiar with the CCAM concept, were analysed. Most respondents believed that CCAM could improve road safety by minimising human error and accidents. Reducing the number of people killed and seriously injured on roads was the priority chosen most often for improving the transport system. Despite high expectations, most respondents were still concerned with CCAM solutions in high-risk driving scenarios and potential dilemmas. Thus, research and development of automated driving is needed to ensure their safe operation regardless of the situation.

European Commission: Joint Research Centre, Gómez, E., Porcaro, L., Frau, P. and Vinagre, J., Publications Office of the European Union, 2024.

This report provides an overview of the divinAI project and provides a set of diversity indicators for seven core artificial intelligence (AI) conferences from 2007 to 2023: the International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence (IJCAI), the Annual Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence (AAAI) Conference, the International Conference on Machine Learning (ICML), Neural Information Processing Systems (NeurIPS) Conference, the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) Recommender Systems (RecSys) Conference, the European Conference on Artificial Intelligence (ECAI) and the European Conference on Machine Learning/Practice of Knowledge Discovery in Databases (ECML/PKDD) .

European Commission - Directorate-General for Education, Youth, Sport and Culture, Publications Office of the European Union, 2022.

These ethical guidelines on AI and data usage in teaching and learning are designed to help educators understand the potential that the applications of AI and data usage can have in education and to raise awareness of the possible risks so that they are able to engage positively, critically and ethically with AI systems and exploit their full potential.

European Commission - Directorate-General for Education, Youth, Sport and Culture, Publications Office of the European Union, 2022.

Diese ethischen Leitlinien über die Nutzung von KI und Daten für Lehr- und Lernzwecke sollen Lehrkräften helfen, das Potenzial von KI-Anwendungen und Datennutzung in der Bildung zu begreifen und sie für die möglichen Risiken zu sensibilisieren, damit sie in der Lage sind, sich positiv, kritisch und ethisch mit KI-Systemen auseinanderzusetzen und deren Potenzial vollständig auszuschöpfen.

European Commission: Directorate-General for Research and Innovation, Renda, A., Balland, P., Soete, L. and Christophilopoulos, E., A European model for artificial intelligence, Publications Office of the European Union, 2025.

There is a consensus on the urgent need for a cohesive European response to the challenges posed by Artificial Intelligence (AI). Increased investment, policy alignment and skill development, are crucial to leverage the emergence of this ground-breaking technology of AI for societal good. The potential of AI in science, government, and industry, underlines the need for the EU public sector to use its unique position in developing and supporting a strategic, transborder and cooperative approach to AI development in Europe, in a unique European model for AI.

Abendroth-Dias, K., Vespe, M., Arias Cabarcos, P., Kotsev, A., Bacco, M. et al., Generative AI outlook report – Exploring the intersection of technology, society, and policy, Vespe, M.(editor), Kotsev, A.(editor), Van Bavel, R.(editor) and Navajas Cawood, E.(editor), Publications Office of the European Union, 2025, https://data.europa.eu/doi/10.2760/1109679

This Outlook report, prepared by the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre (JRC), examines the transformative role of Generative AI (GenAI) with a specific emphasis on the European Union. It highlights the potential of GenAI for innovation, productivity, and societal change. GenAI is a disruptive technology due to its capability of producing human-like content at an unprecedented scale. As such, it holds multiple opportunities for advancements across various sectors, including healthcare, education, science, and creative industries. At the same time, GenAI also presents significant challenges, including the possibility to amplify misinformation, bias, labour disruption, and privacy concerns. All those issues are cross-cutting and therefore, the rapid development of GenAI requires a multidisciplinary approach to fully understand its implications.

Lucas Cardiell, European University Institute, 2024.

The recent progress in artificial intelligence (AI) has inspired a remarkable transformation in intelligent humanoid robots (IHRs). These human replicas are purposefully designed to mimic human appearance and actions. As they interact with individuals, they might pose great potential positive and negative impacts on their human rights, e.g., the right to privacy and non-discrimination. In this thesis I explore the relevant ethical and human rights issues in the context of IHRs, which the AI and human rights literature has not yet adequately addressed. I argue that the aesthetics, presence in private spaces, and the perception of IHRs by individuals as animate beings, pose threats and afford opportunities for human rights and ethical values, particularly privacy as broadly understood. Furthermore, I argue that, as a distinct AI and robotic technology, IHRs have the potential to exploit human vulnerabilities for, e.g., the elderly and individuals with physical and mental disabilities, thus, they deserve a particular attention from the human rights scholarship.

European Commission: Joint Research Centre, Gaudeul, A., Arrigoni, O., Charisi, V., Escobar Planas, M. et al., The impact of human oversight on discrimination in AI-supported decision-making – A large case study on human oversight of AI-based decision support systems in lending and hiring scenarios, Publications Office of the European Union, 2024.

This large-scale study assesses the impact of human oversight on countering discrimination in AI aided decision-making for sensitive tasks. We use a mixed research method approach, in a sequential explanatory design whereby a quantitative experiment with HR and banking professionals in Italy and Germany (N=1411) is followed by qualitative analyses through interviews and workshops with volunteer participants in the experiment, fair AI experts and policymakers.

European Commission - Directorate-General for Education, Youth, Sport and Culture, Publications Office of the European Union, 2022.

Les présentes lignes directrices éthiques sur l’utilisation de l’IA et des données dans l’enseignement et l’apprentissage sont conçues pour aider les éducateurs à comprendre le potentiel des applications de l’IA et de l’utilisation des données dans le domaine de l’éducation et pour les sensibiliser aux éventuels risques qu’elles comportent. L’objectif est que les éducateurs abordent cette technologie de manière positive, critique et éthique et qu’ils l’utilisent correctement pour exploiter tout son potentiel.

European Parliament: Directorate-General for Parliamentary Research Services, Maia de Oliveira Wood, G., Berger, L., Jarke, J., Barnard, G. et al., European Parliament, 2024.

Advances in (neuro)technological development have led to an increase in the use and accessibility of neurotechnologies (NT), allowing brain activity to be recorded, analysed and manipulated by neurotechnological devices. While they were originally used only for clinical purposes, they are becoming more and more attractive for healthy populations willing to enhance their cognitive or physical abilities. Consumer-grade devices can be acquired and used by lay persons without supervision in work, education and entertainment environments. This state of affairs raises a multitude of open questions and the possibility of threats to data security and privacy, as well as neuropsychological, ethical and societal implications. As a result, the Neurorights Foundation (NRF) was formed in 2017 to investigate and discuss these questions and make them visible to the public. This study addresses the NRF's claims and suggestions and evaluates the need for their proposed 'neurorights'. Disciplinary evaluations of the issues at stake are followed by recommendations and policy options.

Publications Office of the European Union, Graux, H., Gryffroy, P., Gad-Nowak, M. and Boghaert, L., Publications Office of the European Union, 2024.

The general impact of artificial intelligence (AI) systems on businesses, governments and the global economy is currently a hot topic. This isn’t surprising, considering that AI is believed to have the potential to bring about radical, unprecedented changes in the way people live and work. The transformative potential of AI originates to a large extent from its ability to analyse data at scale, and to notice and internalise patterns and correlations in that data that humans (or fully deterministic algorithms) would struggle to identify. In simpler terms: modern AIs flourish especially if they can be trained on large volumes of data, and when they are used in relation to large volumes of data.

European Commission: Directorate-General for Research and Innovation, Publications Office of the European Union, 2024.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies are one of the most disruptive general purpose applications at the service of research and innovation. It acts as a catalyst for scientific breakthroughs and is rapidly becoming a key instrument in the scientific process in all areas of research. In this Scientific Opinion (SO) the Group of Chief Scientific Advisors examines how the European Commission can accelerate the responsible take-up of artificial intelligence in science in the European Union. It focuses on a responsible uptake of AI in science – including providing access to highquality AI, respecting European values, and strengthening the position of Europe in science to boost innovation and prosperity in the EU. This SO is published in the context of the Scientific Advice Mechanism which provides independent scientific evidence and policy recommendations to the European institutions by request of the College of Commissioners.