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 University Institute and Cantero Gamito, M., AI governance and the EU’s strategic role in 2025, European University Institute, 2025, https://data.europa.eu/doi/10.2870/2955242

The current global conversation on AI governance is taking place within an intense and shifting geopolitical setting. As such, the ongoing attempts to coordinate governance through summits and other international initiatives are revealing important disagreements among world powers. The EU, once a regulatory leader, faces weakening influence in this conversation. To remain a credible global actor, Europe should rethink its strategy while dealing with internal enforcement gaps and declining external leverage. This policy brief examines current governance dynamics and argues that regulatory ambition alone is no longer sufficient. To remain credible, the EU needs to connect rulemaking with industrial capacity and build coalitions shaped by shared strategic interests rather than rhetorical alignment.

European Commission: Directorate-General for Communications Networks, Content and Technology and Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS), Analysis of EU AI Office – Stakeholder consultations – Defining AI systems and prohibited applications – Final study report, Publications Office of the European Union, 2025, https://data.europa.eu/doi/10.2759/6218665

This report analyses the results of stakeholder consultations conducted by the EU AI Office regarding two critical aspects of AI regulation: the definition of AI systems and prohibited AI applications (European Commission, 2024). This report synthesises stakeholder feedback to 88 questions and informs the development of clear, practical, and effective AI regulatory frameworks. The report was drafted by the Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS).

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 Parliament: Directorate-General for External Policies of the Union and Ünver, A., Artificial intelligence (AI) and human rights – Using AI as a weapon of repression and its impact on human rights – In-depth analysis, 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. By shedding light on global patterns and rapidly developing technologies of algorithmic authoritarianism, this IDA aims to produce a wider understanding of the complex policy, regulatory and diplomatic challenges at the intersection of technology, democracy and human rights.

European Parliament: Directorate-General for Citizens’ Rights, Justice and Institutional Affairs and Bertolini, A., Artificial intelligence and civil liability – A European perspective, European Parliament, 2025, https://data.europa.eu/doi/10.2861/0075079

This study, commissioned by the European Parliament's Policy Department for Justice, Civil Liberties and Institutional Affairs, critically analyses the EU's evolving approach to regulating civil liability for artificial intelligence systems.

European Agency for Safety and Health at Work and Bollmann, U., Artificial intelligence and education – A teacher-centred approach to safety and health, Publications Office of the European Union, 2024.

This report examines the opportunities and risks associated with the integration of new digital technologies for the health, safety and wellbeing of teachers in schools. This is viewed both from the perspective of occupational safety and health (OSH) and a pedagogical perspective. A comprehensive overview of the possible risks and opportunities for teachers from the integration of technologies, in particular based on artificial intelligence (AI), is provided based on a systematic analysis. Suggestions are also given of potential measures for improving the health, safety and wellbeing of teachers in the digital age.

European Commission: Directorate-General for Economic and Financial Affairs, Simons, W., Turrini, A. and Vivian, L., 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.

European University Institute and Šucha, V., Before AGI arrives – Why 2025-2030 determines the future of democratic AI governance, European University Institute, 2025, https://data.europa.eu/doi/10.2870/7885333

This paper argues that democratic societies face a critical threeto five-year window (2025-2030) to establish effective governance of artificial intelligence before the potential emergence of Artificial General Intelligence (AGI). The analysis demonstrates that AI capabilities are advancing exponentially while democratic institutions respond at traditional policy speeds, creating a dangerous mismatch. Power is rapidly concentrating in private technology corporations that now control 85-90% of AI computational resources and talent, while public sector AI investment lags dramatically behind private funding.

European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights, Publications Office of the European Union, 2022.

Artificial intelligence is everywhere and affects everyone – from deciding what content people see on their social media feeds to determining who will receive state benefits. AI technologies are typically based on algorithms that make predictions to support or even fully automate decision-making.

European Union Agency for Cybersecurity, Weber, S., Scherer, M., Groenland, J., Pascu, C. et al., Cyber insurance – Models and methods and the use of AI, European Union Agency for Cybersecurity, 2024.

Research and innovation (R&I) are important indicators for a society to measure progress, growth and development in any field. But progress and growth in our increasingly digital society cannot be achieved without trust. Investing in cybersecurity R&I is key to increasing knowledge about new and emerging threats and developing new technologies, tools and strategies to protect systems, networks and data. Failure to do so can have devastating consequences for building trust in the use of digital technologies by individuals, organisations and society as a whole. The main objective of this report is to introduce cyber risk and cyber insurance, provide an overview of existing research and modelling approaches, and identify gaps for upcoming research projects.

European Commission: Directorate-General for Research and Innovation, Balland, P.-A., Di Girolamo, V., Benoit, F., Ravet, J. et al., Divided we fall behind – Why a fragmented EU cannot compete in complex technologies, Publications Office of the European Union, 2025, https://data.europa.eu/doi/10.2777/8548441

This study presents a novel complexity-based framework to analyse fragmentation in the EU’s R&I system, highlighting hub connectivity as a critical factor. Drawing on extensive patent and publication data (2000–2023), it finds that European hubs are significantly less interconnected than their US counterparts, particularly in complex technologies such as AI, biotech, and quantum computing. The research underscores not only a performance gap but also structural inefficiencies, calling for more targeted, cross-regional policy interventions to enhance Europe’s innovation competitiveness.

European Union Institute for Security Studies, Andersen, L., Broeders, D. and Csernatoni, R., Publications Office of the European Union, 2024.

This volume is based on papers presented and discussed at the conference Closing the Gap 2023, Emerging and Disruptive Digital Technologies: Regional Perspectives, on 6 and 7 December 2023 at Glazen Zaal in The Hague, the Netherlands. The conference was organised by Leiden University, as part of the EU Cyber Direct project, and brought together authors and representatives from numerous institutions around the world. The aim of the conference was to explore the diversity of interpretations regarding the challenges and opportunities associated with various digital emerging and disruptive technologies (EDTs), de-centre approaches to their study (which have so far been largely Western or Europe-centric in nature) as well as enrich the state of the art. The chapters in this volume are divided into three sections focusing respectively on ‘national perspectives: policy meets technology’; ‘interstate and diplomatic arenas: navigating critical emerging technologies’; and ‘harnessing quantum technologies nationally and internationally’. In each of the chapters, authors address different geographical locations — be it cities, countries or blocks of countries — in relation to the application or consideration of a range of digital EDTs in different contexts.

European Court of Auditors, Publications Office of the European Union, 2024.

Embracing AI technology will likely determine the path of the EU’s future economic development. In 2018, the Commission adopted a coordinated plan with the member states to scale up investment in artificial intelligence and adapt the regulatory environment, which was updated in 2021. We assessed whether the Commission’s implementation of the framework was being effective. We found that the Commission’s actions covered key dimensions that are important for the development of an EU ecosystem for artificial intelligence. However, the multiple actions (many of which are still ongoing) had a limited effect in developing the EU AI ecosystem by the time of the audit and did not accelerate AI investment in line with global leaders.

European Commission, Joint Research Centre, 2025-

This is a quarterly newsletter where we share the latest updates on enforcement of the Digital Services Act (DSA) and relevant research by the ECAT team, colleagues within the European Commission, and the wider research community.

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.

Europol, Publications Office of the European Union, 2024.

This report presents the first published analysis of the Europol Innovation Lab’s Observatory function, focusing on deepfakes, the technology behind them and their potential impact on law enforcement and EU citizens. Deepfake technology uses Artificial Intelligence to audio and audio-visual content. Deepfake technology can produce content that convincingly shows people saying or doing things they never did, or create personas that never existed in the first place. To date, the Europol Innovation Lab has organised three strategic foresight activities with EU Member State law enforcement agencies and other experts.

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.

European Commission, Joint Research Centre. Publications Office of the European Union, 2022.

The European approach for AI focuses on two main areas: excellence and trust, enabling the development and uptake of AI while ensuring people's safety and fundamental rights. However, research and policy documentations do not always use the same vocabulary, often generating misunderstandings among researchers, policy makers, and the general public.

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. We find that human overseers are equally likely to follow advice from a generic AI that is discriminatory as from an AI that is programmed to be fair. Human oversight does not prevent discrimination when the generic AI is used. Choice when a fair AI is used are less gender biased but are still affected by participants' biases. Interviews with participants show they prioritize their company's interests over fairness and highlights the need for guidance on overriding AI recommendations. Fair AI experts emphasize the need for a comprehensive systemic approach when designing oversight systems.

European University Institute and Galariotis, I., Is artificial intelligence threatening democracy?, European University Institute, 2024.

In a democracy, human beings make decisions with the aim of serving the will of the people and promoting the collective welfare of society. While machines can learn from data and generate potential democratic solutions, they fall short in grasping the intricacies of the subjective reality of democratic politics. Entrusting Artificial Intelligence (AI) systems with decision-making carries the risk of following optimal solutions shaped by falsified objective realities that AI algorithms aim to optimise. Even if the data were comprehensive and sufficient, modelling approaches struggle to fully encapsulate the complexities of subjective realities within global democracies and societies.

European Artificial Intelligence Office, 2025.

Article 4 of the AI Act requires providers and deployers of AI systems to ensure a sufficient level of AI literacy to their staff and anyone using the systems on their behalf. The article entered into application on 2 February 2025. Several organisations have anticipated and prepared themselves. The EU AI Office has gathered some of the ongoing practices among the pledgers of the AI Pact with the purpose of creating a living repository to provide examples on ongoing AI literacy practices.

European Commission: European Research Council Executive Agency, Mapping ERC frontier research artificial intelligence, Publications Office of the European Union, 2024.

The European Research Council (ERC) is the premier European funding organisation for excellent frontier research. Since its establishment in 2007, it has been a cornerstone of the EU’s research and innovation funding programmes. The ERC gives its grantees the freedom to develop ambitious research projects that can lead to advances at the frontiers of knowledge and set a clear and inspirational target for frontier research across Europe. The ERC funds a rich and diverse portfolio of projects in all fields of science and scholarship, without any predefined academic or policy priorities. These projects can have an impact well beyond science and provide frontier knowledge and innovation to help solve societal challenges and inform EU policy objectives.

European Commission: Directorate-General for Research and Innovation, Opinion paper on EOSC as a common good by the EOSC Steering Board expert group (E03756), Publications Office of the European Union, 2025.

In this opinion paper, the European Open Science Cloud (EOSC) Steering Board reflects on whether EOSC truly embodies the ideal of a common good. In this respect, EOSC appears to have a hybrid nature. It brings together both excludable and non-excludable services – some accessible to all users, others restricted. Furthermore, despite the non-rivalrous nature of FAIR datasets, the infrastructures and technologies required to access and interpret them impose certain usage limitations. This can lead to disparities within the potential user community, limiting the broader impact of EOSC on Open Science. The opinion paper therefore concludes with recommendations to adopt measures that will increase the inclusiveness of EOSC.

European Commission, Directorate-General for Digital Services, 2024.

This report presents the Public Sector Tech Watch (PSTW), the observatory dedicated to monitor, analyse, and disseminate the use of emerging technologies within the public sector in Europe. The observatory has been launched by the European Commission, and more specifically by the Directorate-General for Informatics (DG DIGIT) and the Joint Research Centre (JRC). In a context where the use of emerging technologies like Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Blockchain is growing, the launch of PSTW is an important milestone to accelerate the adoption of such technologies in the public sector in Europe.

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.