- Published: 29.01.2025.
Minister Habijan at the conference "What does AI bring us?"
On 28 January 2025, the Personal Data Protection Agency marked the 19th European Data Protection Day by organising the conference "What does AI bring us?", focusing on the benefits and risks of the development and use of artificial intelligence
85 administrative fines totalling 10 million euros have been issued since 2020 for GDPR breaches in Croatia, and as much as 8 million euros of fines were imposed on debt collection agencies for personal data leaks in 2023, as it was highlighted on Tuesday at the Data Protection Day celebration.Minister of Justice, Public Administration and Digital Transformation Damir Habijan said that it was important for citizens to understand that any kind of disclosure of personal data in the virtual world today had consequences. "We have a recent example from Serbia, where personal data, personal documents of journalists and citizens from Croatia were made public. Above all, caution and education are paramount", said the Minister.
Virtual teacher and assistant "Olivia" was presented at the conference, which the Agency described as "a simple tool providing adequate and free help to Croatian entrepreneurs to comply with the General Data Protection Regulation".
Processing of personal data in AI systems that does not comply with the GDPR may lead, inter alia, to discrimination, biased decision-making to the detriment of natural persons and identity theft.
"Our vision includes the development of systems based on predictive analytics, which will enable citizens to make informed decisions before initiating court disputes, while judges will be given the tools to make higher quality decisions. These tools are not envisaged as a substitute for human judgment, but as support to speed up processes, increase accuracy and instil trust in citizens. Artificial intelligence offers enormous economic and social opportunities, but it demands responsibility from all of us. The key to success lies in open dialogue, interdisciplinary cooperation and continuous education - from decision-makers to end-users", Minister Habijan concluded.