OW2con'22

AI and Free Software in the European Union
2022-06-08 , OW2con main virtual room

The EU is on its way to adopting legislation on artificial intelligence. Transparency plays a major role in this. But how exactly should this transparency be designed and what role does Free Software play? The talk will give an insight into the current state of the debate and what chances there are that provisions for Free Software will be included in the legislation.


The European Parliament has dealt intensively with the upcoming regulation of artificial intelligence and has agreed that Free Software plays a role in this. In the EU Commission's legislative proposal, however, there is no reference to Free Software. Now, in the ongoing debates in the Parliament, it must be ensured that at least the compromises previously reached are also reflected in the legislation. The current state of the debate and the pitfalls will be discussed in the talk.

Alexander has studied politics in Marburg and later has been an MEP Assistant in Brussels for three years and the General Manager of Digitale Gesellschaft e.V. in Berlin for four years. Furthermore he is the founder of NoPNR!, a campaign against the retention of travel data. He now works as Policy Consultant for the Free Software Foundation Europe.