AI Under the Spotlight: The Other Side of the Coin

Today Politiscope brought together journalists, digital rights advocates, and legal experts for a critical discussion on the social impact of artificial intelligence – with a special focus on human rights.

Hosted at the Croatian Journalists’ Association, the event explored the often-overlooked harms of AI systems. With both new and old friends of Politiscope, we explored how AI is shaping surveillance, public services, and policy.

The event opened with a strong reminder of what’s at stake: Vanja Skoric (ECNL) reflected on how emerging technologies can deeply affect our everyday lives – posing serious risks to privacy, equality, and other fundamental rights. Ella Jakubowska (EDRi) followed with an inspiring overview of two major advocacy campaigns: Protect Not Surveil and Reclaim Your Face, both calling for a ban on live biometric surveillance as an ineffective, harmful, and authoritarian technology.

We then heard from experts confronting these issues on the ground: Jelle Klaas (PILP) shared how strategic litigation in the Netherlands successfully challenged discriminatory algorithms used for terrorism risk profiling by banks. Filip Milošević (SHARE Foundation) presented a civic initiative which successfully pushed back against the rollout of biometric surveillance in city streets.

Nađa Marković (A11 Initiative) shared critical insights into systemic unfairness and discrimination in the algorithmic governance of social benefits in Serbia. Marija Renić explored how the Internet – and the social media algorithms – profoundly shape modern parenthood. Tamara Zavišić (ETIK.AI) closed the session by exploring the ethics of AI: how companies define “values,” and “safety”- and how these abstract principles are built into the large language models we use every day.

A brief presentation of the EU AI Act by Duje Prkut (Politiscope) set the stage for a panel discussion on Croatia’s upcoming implementation law. The panel – featuring Anamarija Mladinić (Croatian Data Protection Agency), Danilo Krivokapic (SHARE), Maja Cimerman (Danes je nov dan), and Duje Kozomara (Politiscope) – focused on key decisions the newly established national working group will soon make, including the designation of the enforcement authority under the AI Act.

A heartfelt thank you to all the speakers, panelists, and attendees who contributed to this meaningful step toward building an AI-aware community.

Politiscope will continue to advocate for legislative approaches that promote the accountable and transparent development and deployment of AI, rooted in human rights and benefiting society as a whole. We were especially inspired by Maja Cimerman’s presentation of DJND’s Register of Public Use of AI, which goes beyond transparency standards of the EU AI Act.

We’ll keep pushing for these progressive practices to become part of Croatia’s national AI framework – because “minimum compliance” isn’t enough when rights and freedoms are at stake.