CroAI Meetup “Ask AZOP, before AZOP asks you!”

On Tuesday, March 11th, we held our first CroAI meetup of 2025, titled “Ask AZOP, before AZOP asks you!”. As part of this topic, we focused on the Personal Data Protection Agency, the AI Regulation, its impact on EU and Croatian companies, regulatory compliance, and ways to avoid potential fines.

After the opening speeches by our Executive Director Lorena Barić and Board Member Davor Ančić, an exclusive fireside chat with Anamarija Mladinić (AZOP, Council of Europe), moderated by Stefan Martinić (LL.M. Harvard Law School), provided us with a clear insight into the regulatory landscape, practical steps for compliance, and the challenges of aligning AI development with legal requirements. The discussion was filled with excellent questions, valuable insights, and a very active debate on how companies can prepare before regulators step in.

There is often the belief that GDPR, as a regulation, has a separate place in the approach to the development and use of artificial intelligence and that the EU AI regulation is so restrictive that those who develop AI solutions for external markets must pay a high and difficult-to-predict price for compliance with it. What is often forgotten in public discourse is that developing internal solutions not open to the public is not subject to the AI Regulation, but the way they collect and process data that we consider personal data is subject to GDPR, as it represents a risk to the individual.

This thematic conference was organized with the support of the National Foundation for Civil Society Development as part of the Thematic Systemic Support on the topic “Artificial Intelligence and Social Development.”