PhD Seminar: “Human Rights: Insights to today’s challenges”

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Can Machines Forget? Reconciling Generative AI with Fundamental Rights Enforcement

Abstract

PhDs, Post-Docs, professors as well as interested external auditors, are cordially invited to participate in and contribute to our seminar series titled: “Human Rights: Insights into Today’s Challenges” hosted by the Doctoral School of Law. The aim of the seminar is to have an in depth discussion on a different human rights issue in each seminar. Presentations of 15 to 20 minutes (or up to 30 minutes if we have two or more speakers) will be followed by an open group discussion.

Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) systems inherently process training datasets that may contain copyrighted content, inaccurate (but not necessarily unlawful) information, and personal data. The key importance of data and content for these systems leads to unprecedented challenges. For instance, what if these systems make inferences and return outputs based on inaccurate personal data? What if they infringe copyright and ‘learn’ something they ‘had no right to learn’? In technical terms, these challenges require ‘retraining’ AI systems – adapting them to remove (or ‘forget’) false information, personal data or copyrighted content from circulation, to ensure that they process information in a way that respects fundamental rights.

While fundamental rights play a key role in the debate on the regulation of AI, limited efforts have been made to address the problem of their enforcement so far. For example, the EU AI Act fails to be conducive to an actual empowerment of individuals with respect to the enforcement of these rights. To avoid leaving practical solutions to judicial interpretation alone, the mismatch between existing safeguards and technology developments requires further efforts. The presentation aims to address these issues by exploring whether and how the processing of data and content by generative AI systems can be reconciled with the protection of fundamental rights.

Beyond output-related risks, the presentation critically addresses memorisation in generative systems – not merely as a technical feature, but as a legally significant dynamic that challenges aspects such as data minimisation, content moderation, and the right to erasure, among the others.

Any (open or closed) question after the presentation will be much welcomed.

About the speaker

Marco Bassini is an Assistant Professor of Fundamental Rights and Artificial Intelligence at the Tilburg Institute for Law, Technology, and Society (TILT), Tilburg University and a Research Fellow at CERRE – Centre on Regulation in Europe. He is the Principal Investigator of the Dutch government-funded research project “RetrAIn – Enforcing Constitutional Rights in the Age of Generative Artificial Intelligence”. He previously served as Adjunct Professor of Internet Law at Bocconi University, where he was the coordinator for the LL.M. program in Law of Internet Technology from 2020 to 2022. He obtained his Ph.D. in Constitutional and European Law from the University of Verona in 2016 and was an Emile Noël Fellow at New York University School of Law. A qualified lawyer with the Milan Bar since 2013, Dr. Bassini has advised the Italian Communications Authority and the Italian Ministry for Technological Innovation. His research focuses on freedom of expression, platforms regulation and AI regulation

Language

English.

This is a free event. Registration is mandatory.

The seminars will be held during lunch time, sandwiches and water will be provided for registered participants. PhD students will be awarded 1 ECTS for attending 5 seminars and 1 ECTS for presenting in one of the seminars. Candidates for presenting a topic are very welcome to contact us.

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