In recent years, the advent of synthetic data — artificially produced data used for data science tasks (Jordon et al., 2022) — has led to a questioning of a premise of “data-driven” societies: the need to collect data from real persons, objects, and events. Thanks to the growing availability of generative artificial intelligence (AI), synthetic data proponents claim, the data needed to train machine learning algorithms can now be produced artificially (Jacobsen, 2023). The promises of synthetic data have taken hold in fields as diverse as finance (e.g. Assefa et al., 2020), transport (e.g. Osi ..read more

The COVID-19 pandemic rapidly accelerated the implementation of digital communication tools in public institutions across Europe. Schools, universities, and even government agencies found themselves compelled to catch up on their neglected digitisation efforts overnight in order to maintain their fundamental functions. In this transition to digital services, a multitude of institutions turned to the most readily available option: Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) solutions from major platform providers. Although this dependence on Big Tech did provide continuity in the short term, it has now moved ..read more

Introduction In the past years, growing popular debate and technological developments have focused on the potential and promises of decentralised or distributed technologies for purposes of financial transactions, digital governance, data processing, and content sharing. However, the project of leveraging decentralisation as a means of resistance against the centralised and monopolistic models of governance involves a complex array of phenomena and technosocial tensions. Within the traditionally centralised systems of technology governance, there is growing exploration, experimentation, and mi ..read more

From negative impacts on teenagers’ mental health to the abuse of data collection for political microtargeting and potentially abetting genocide against the Rohingya: in the past decade, online platforms like Instagram, TikTok and YouTube have been accused of contributing to — in some cases even driving — a host of real-life harms with significant impacts for individuals and communities across the world. Yet even after decades of research, our understanding of platforms’ implications remains limited. Companies tightly control access to their vast amounts of data, leaving researchers dependent ..read more

According to recent studies, Generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) output discriminates against women. On testing ChatGPT, terms such as “expert” and “integrity” were used to describe men, while women were associated with “beauty” or “delight”. This was the case while using the Large Language Model, Alpaca,  a model developed by Stanford University to produce recommendation letters for potential employees. This study, and others, have contributed to recognition from official bodies of the dire situation of gender discrimination in AI. For instance, the Report on Preventing Discrimi ..read more

Declaration This work was based on the research developed in the framework of PNRR/NextGenerationEU project "Biorobotics Research and Innovation Engineering Facilities “IR0000036” – CUP J13C22000400007". Why should we bother about cybersecurity in AI systems? According to statistics, a cyberattack currently occurs every 39 seconds, and this trend will only increase and become more and more individualised. Malware attacks have blocked the activities of companies, universities, hospitals, and individuals. Europe (and national states) have started to adopt strategies and regulations that aim at ..read more

Stepping into a virtual realm where every move you make is not solely your own but is subtly orchestrated by game designers — where there could be 'dark patterns' controlling your gaming experience, dopamine rushes and spending habits — is a concerning but not unrealistic portrayal of the future of gameplay. Ongoing regulatory debates in the EU about limiting ‘loot boxes’, in-game containers that mask randomised content which players purchase using real or in-game currency, attempt to address this issue (Osborne, 2023). Belgium, Finland and the Netherlands have declared loot boxes pu ..read more

​ With the political approval around the EU AI Act on 8 December, Europe’s comprehensive regulatory framework joins other governments initiatives in response to growing concerns about AI safety with a surge in regulatory initiatives. These include the Bletchley Declaration following the UK AI Safety Summit to progress on the EU AI Act, the comprehensive AI governance strategy outlined in Biden's Executive Order, and the G7's statement on the Hiroshima process, endorsing an AI 'Code of Conduct'. AI regulation in Brazil Amidst the attention these initiatives have garnered, a significant effort i ..read more

On the 23 February 2023, the Italian Data Protection Authority (DPA) issued a decision against Ediscom S.p.A. (Garante per la Protezione dei Dati Personali, 2023) explicitly referring to “dark patterns”1, i.e. online design choices that manipulate users’ decision-making to benefit digital services. The imposed fine of 300,000 euros was due because, on some of its websites, the company employed dark patterns (hereafter DPs) to illegally entice data subjects to consent to the processing of their personal data for marketing purposes. This decision is significant as it is the first time in Europe ..read more

Decentralised Autonomous Organisations (DAOs) are “… blockchain-based organisations fed by virtual open networks of contributors” (Santana & Albareda, 2022, p. 1). One of the defining features of DAOs is their decentralised governance (Hassan & De Filippi, 2021; Santana & Albareda, 2022). Decentralisation lies at the heart of the cypherpunk ethos, which runs through the Web3 community and aims to disrupt social, political, and economic asymmetries (Ramiro & de Queiroz, 2022). Accordingly, DAOs should serve as a tool for disrupting these imbalances within organisations. Falling ..read more