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1st meeting of AI Correspondents Network: community, compliance and collaboration

Leonardo CERVERA NAVAS

The AI Act is now in force and the EDPS has put its plan into action.

In 2024, the EDPS proposed a correspondents network to facilitate AI governance in public administrations. Even though the AI Act does not mention or require an AI correspondent, each EU institution recognises the value of such a network and voluntarily assigned one.

The first meeting, held on the 27th of January 2025, explored how EU institutions, bodies, offices and agencies (EUIs) could combine forces, provided guidance to newly appointed correspondents and set out a future vision for the development of the network.

The EDPS identified three key opportunities for EUIs to collaborate with one another:

AI literacy, a requirement under the AI Act and a non-negotiable for the successful rollout of AI pilots. EU Learn and the EU Agency Network (EUNA) provide a multitude of AI training programmes. EUIs can leverage these to ensure a baseline level of knowledge (a type of “AI driving license”).

Public procurement, by working together, EUIs can negotiate effectively with vendors and service providers of AI systems. Future AI procurement would also benefit from developing standard terms and conditions that align with European Law.

Pilot programmes, EUIs use, develop and test AI tools at unequal rates. The EDPS aims to support pilot programmes for a select number of AI tools, allowing all EU staff to gain the same level of proficiency and develop use cases. These would be facilitated by an acceptable use policy, which the EDPS would create in conjunction with the AI correspondents’ network. 

Opening the meeting, the EDPS, Wojciech Wiewiórowski, stressed that the AI correspondents’ network provides an opportunity to shape the future of AI. The approaches and the decisions taken within the network are likely to have far-reaching implications, not just for the EU public sector, but also, directly or indirectly, for society, businesses and individuals.

Newly appointed correspondents benefited from a wide variety of presentations and expert perspectives. The morning began with an update from Sonia Perez Romero, Acting Head of the AI Unit at the EDPS, about the ongoing work of the AI Board and the AI Act’s compliance timelines. The next session featured Kilian Gross, Head of the Artificial Intelligence Regulation and Compliance Unit at the AI Office, who spoke about EUIs as providers and developers under the AI Act. Thomas Zerdick, Head of the Supervision & Enforcement Unit at the EDPS, addressed the role that Data Protection Authorities play in the AI Act while Raluca-Lavinia Peica, Director-General, Court of Justice of the European Union, spoke about the vital topic of AI ethics. Participants experienced practical demonstrations of the European Commission’s general-purpose AI tool, GPT@EC, from Spyros Sarigiannidis, Head of Data, Artificial Intelligence and Web at DG DIGIT. Christian-Yves Krappitz, Acting Head of Unit of the Learning and Development at DG HR, provided an overview of the AI learning packages available on EU Learn. Finally, Nora Tosics, Head of the Legal Section at the EIT Directorate, spoke about AI Trainings and their methodologies.

The EDPS suggested three core pillars to guide the network: Community, Compliance and Collaboration and proposed actionable priorities to achieve them. It is crucial to establish a clear vision for the AI correspondents’ network. AI is a broad topic and cuts across a variety of legal disciplines. Therefore, goals like these are essential for staying on track and measuring performance.

Networks create efficiencies by bringing together cross-institutional expertise. On the other hand, it also provides a forum for challenges to be raised at a centralised level. By establishing and growing initiatives like the AI correspondents network, the EDPS aims to achieve the balance between innovation and safety that the AI Act advocates for.