‘’The development of full artificial intelligence could spell the end of the human race’’  – Stephen Hawking This opening quote does not exactly instill a positive outlook, but it’s a perfect setting for exploring why this argument exists. AI is the buzzword of the moment, and while we may all be using it, do we have a good understanding of it? And what stance is the European Union taking? In a world where we are still struggling to convince people that media literacy is important, is AI facing a similar battle? Firstly, lets acknowledge that [...]

‘’Human want’s and human needs are infinite, and so there will always be new industries, there will always be new professions’’ – Milton Friedman This is an ambiguous title, because this is an ambiguous question that is growing in relevance. What IS clear is that our world is changing. Economic and technical changes are restructuring the working environment with new sectors growing and some becoming more obsolete. Work is increasingly being carried out on online platforms and across time zones, robotics, AI and digitalization raise many questions and machines are replacing the human taskforce and [...]

Have you ever heard people saying “the European Union is too focused on the market and economic returns of different policies”? People tend to think it’s all black and white when they utter these kinds of words, being worried about the market when it comes to jobs and unemployment, while neglecting it when it comes to social or environmental policies, for example. Have eurosceptics ever thought that the EU has to focus on each different policy? Let’s look at the environment: whenever a new policy comes into force in this field, the European Union makes [...]

We are watching a futurist movie, representing Europe in 2060. Everyone wonders how the situation in our countries is going to be in the future, if we own cars able to fly, if we can go on holidays on the moon, whether we have discovered the potion of eternal youth or not. Unfortunately, if we keep our feet on the ground and we look at statistics and reports, we find out that we desperately need to discover the magic potion: by 2060 1 in 3 Europeans will be over 65 and the number of  inactive people [...]

Usually when people think about environmental policy, they see before their eyes nature or trees and, all of a sudden, the thought goes straight to climate change and pollution. This idea of environment and, consequently, of environmental policies is surely right, but we should be able to see beyond this and conceive environmental protection, sustainability and the fight against natural disasters in a new light. New technologies are said to be in most cases environmentally friendly: let’s think, for example, to the amount of paper we save daily in home or office administration, advertising, etc. [...]

JUST SOME FACTS: According to the Eurobarometer and European statistics: only 20-25% of students in European schools are taught by teachers who are confident with technology use; 43% of Europeans lack basic digital skills; 71 million students attending schools in Europe need to develop their skills for the digital society. European education needs to keep up with technology advancements and the EU is trying to do this through technology itself. The target of EU initiatives is both students and teachers, since no one should be left behind, without forgetting about adults in general, since lifelong [...]

  How the EU tackles illegal content online Security has been set as one of the main priorities of the EU Commission. Here, Juncker’s toolkit aims to protect European citizens from illegal content online such as terroristic propaganda, hate speech and fake news. COUNTER TERRORISM: • Detecting and removing, as quickly as possible, terroristic propaganda and content from the web and encouraging internet companies to do the same. • Using heavy sanctions to condemn any kind of incitement, promotion or glorification of terrorism online (see the EU Legislation on combatting terrorism). • The launch of [...]

A plastic strategy for a circular economy Although plastic is essential for our daily life and industry, 90% of plastics are derived directly from fossil fuels, having a serious environmental impact and potentially damaging to human health. As plastic production is expected to double by 2036, the Eu Parliament is supporting a new plan towards a circular economy: recyclable or reusable plastic packaging by 2030, limiting the addition micro-plastic to products and tackling marine litter by reducing single-use plastics. Making all plastic packages recyclable by 2030 is among the goals of a new strategy the [...]