The following is a guest post by Dante Figueroa, a senior legal information analyst at the Law Library of Congress covering Italian, Vatican, Roman, and Canon law. Dante has previously published the following posts: From Summorum Pontificum to Traditionis Custodes: Changes in Liturgical Matters at the Catholic Church, Vatican Criminal Law and Recent Money Laundering Cases, Collections and Digitization Projects of the Vatican Apostolic Library, and The Roman Senate as Precursor of the U.S. Senate, among others.
Please join us on May 22, 2025, at 2:00 p.m. EDT for another entry into our Foreign and Comparative Law Webinar series with our “How to Handle AI? – Italian National Regulation in the Context of European Law” webinar. Artificial Intelligence (AI) is the new reality the world is facing in the 21st century. Most know about it, but few understand it properly, and even fewer dare to predict the implications of AI in all aspects of life.
In this context, current developments and innovations concerning AI pose meaningful challenges to governments and the private sector, in particular in the area of fundamental human rights. For instance, the inclusion of Algorithmic Decision-Making (ADM) processes in various aspects of human endeavors, such as policing, employment, health care, business, and criminal justice, may reinforce and even create new barriers to fairness in society.
Regulation (EU) 2024/1689 (“AI Act”) is the world’s first regulatory framework on AI. This regulation offers a comprehensive legislative framework for using AI, with broad coverage and allocated duties and obligations based on a hierarchy of risks to health, safety, and fundamental human rights. Accordingly, the AI Act contains regulatory tools available to member states and private actors with the ultimate purpose of shielding real or perceived disruptions caused by AI on contemporary societies. Other European Union (EU) regulations also tackle AI, including the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”) and the “Digital Services Act.”
In this context, the webinar will analyze the aforementioned EU’s AI regulatory framework, from a legal and ethical perspective, to understand the challenges posed by AI innovations to the traditional human-centered environment. Particular attention will be given to the recent European Court of Justice’s decision in the “Schufa case.”
Italy is not unaware of the many challenges posed by AI in various sectors of life. On April 23, 2024, the Council of Ministers approved a draft of a legislative bill dedicated to AI. Most recently, on March 20, 2025, a legislative bill was introduced into the Italian Senate concerning AI. However, no enacted legislation on AI currently exists in Italy.
Accordingly, the webinar will also ponder the current and future implications of both EU and tentative domestic legislation on AI for Italy.
The main speaker will be Roberto D’Orazio, who is a senior legislative analyst at the Italian Parliamentary Library, and will present alongside Dante Figueroa, senior legal information analyst at the Law Library of Congress. Dante has a J.D. degree from the University of Concepcion, Chile, an LL.M. from the University of Chile, and an LL.M. from American University in Washington, D.C. He is fluent in Spanish, English, French, and Italian, and conversant in German and Portuguese.
To learn about other upcoming classes on domestic and foreign law topics, visit the Legal Research Institute. Please request ADA accommodations at least five business days in advance by contacting (202) 707-6362 or [email protected].
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