IViR Lecture Series: Artificial Intelligence and Data Protection, a view from the European Data Protection Supervisor

The AI Act is a leadership call for a human-centered approach to the regulation of new technologies. The EU aims to replicate the Brussels effect that started with the GDPR. The European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS), as the EU institution competent both for the GDPR and the AI Act, is actively exploring synergies between these regulations to ensure the safe and effective adoption of AI within EU administration.

Leonardo Cervera Navas is the Secretary General of the European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS), the Data Protection Authority of the European Union. He’s a Law graduate of the University of Málaga and has a master’s degree in European Law from the University of Granada (Spain). He was a fellow at Duke University in North Carolina (US) as part of the EU Fellowship Programme of the European Commission. He also holds a post-graduate diploma in HR management by Kingston University (UK). He is Member of the Malaga Academy of Sciences (correspondent in Brussels).

Leonardo joined the European Commission in 1999 and since then he has been working in the Data Protection field in the EU institutions. In 2010, he joined the EDPS as a manager and he was appointed Director in 2018. In July 2023, he was appointed Secretary General. As Head of the Secretariat, he sits at the Management Board of the EDPS, advises the European Data Protection Supervisor and he is in charge of the coordination and implementation of the strategies and policies of the institution.