MK
Marcel Kolaja
— On the schedule —
Artificial Insecurity: how AI threatens digital security and what we can do about it
This talk will provide an overview of the key issues at the intersection of artificial intelligence, privacy, and encryption. In particular, it will focus on three topics:
• The current state of the art regarding security and privacy defaults on cloud-based AI chatbots;
• An overview of encryption in the context of cloud-based AI chatbots, looking specifically into so-called end-to-end encrypted chatbot interactions, and the role of content moderation and AI alignment techniques in such private chatbot interactions;
• Risks posed to privacy and encryption due to developments in agentic AI systems, such as the integration of agentic tools at the OS-level.
Beyond just giving an overview of these issues, the talk will further focus on alternative approaches (such as locally run models) and advocacy opportunities to mitigate the risks outlined above.
— Compositor's note —
Marcel Kolaja is the Policy and Advocacy Director for Europe at Access Now, an organization defending and extending the digital rights of people and communities at risk. He leads a team of digital rights policy experts and drives the advocacy agenda at the intersection of human rights and digital technologies in Europe.
From 2019 through 2024, Marcel served as a Member of the European Parliament (MEP). Throughout his tenure, he was also a Member of the Bureau of the European Parliament: from 2019 through 2022 as Vice-President and from 2022 through 2024 as Quaestor.
In his work in the European Parliament, Marcel focused mainly on topics related to fundamental rights and consumer protection in the digital age, privacy protection, cybersecurity, encryption, transparency, Free and Open Source Software, AI, the Digital Single Market, and media freedom. Legislative acts that Marcel directly worked on include the Artificial Intelligence Act, the Digital Services Act, the Digital Markets Act, the Child Sexual Abuse Regulation, the Product Liability Directive, and many more.
Marcel graduated from the Faculty of Informatics, Masaryk University in Brno. He had been working in various capacities in the IT industry in technical and managerial roles be before he was elected MEP.