Title: AI and Disinformation: Understanding the Risks and Limits of EU Law

Speaker: Dr. Hannah van Kolfschooten, legal researcher at the University of Basel, specialist in AI regulation and fundamental rights.

This webinar explores how disinformation is changing in the age of artificial intelligence (AI). Today, misleading or harmful information is not only shared by people, but can also be generated and shaped by AI systems themselves. The session discusses the key risks of disinformation in AI systems, including inaccurate or biased outputs, lack of transparency, and the potential to influence user behaviour. It then provides an overview of how the European Union (EU) is trying to address these risks through different legal frameworks, including the AI Act and consumer protection law. It identifies important strengths and limitations of the EU legal framework with respect to these new forms of disinformation and algorithmic influence. As a case study, the webinar focuses on consumer AI tools for health, such as health and wellness apps. These tools can generate unreliable or biased information, shape behaviour, and affect people’s health and wellbeing – often without being regulated as medical products. This makes them a useful example of the broader challenges AI poses for existing legal frameworks.