Ugo
Ruffolo
Adjunct professor, Department of Legal Studies Bologna University
Ugo Ruffolo has been Full Professor of Civil Law and Communication Law in the Faculty of Law of the University of Bologna, as well as having held teaching positions also in other Universities (LUISS University of Rome, University of Perugia and University of Calabria). He currently teaches “Artificial Intelligence and Law” at the Law Faculty of the University of Bologna. He has held important institutional positions, as legal advisor or member of ministerial commissions. Prof. Ruffolo is also a lawyer, head of a prominent law firm with seats in Rome, Bologna and Milan.
He is the author of various monographs and essays on legal and legal-economic subjects. He is an expert of consumer law, communication and media law, corporate law.
Prof. Ruffolo has been among the first in Italy to study and research the topics of the interactions between Artificial Intelligence and law, with specific regard to regulation and liability. This activity has resulted in various published studies, including monographs.
COURSES
Ethics and Politics
The module focuses on the family of AI narratives that shape public perceptions of the relationship between ethics, politics, law and technology.
These include AI ethics, anthropomorphism, value alignment, the principle of technological inevitability, the myth of technological exceptionalism, the principle of innovation, and the myth of the legal void. Indeed, falling prey to such narratives leads to poor business decisions.
Law for AI
The course will provide an overview of the main legal issues related to the creation and use of AI systems in many fields, with a focus on how such issues should lead companies to reconsider crucial aspects of their business strategies.
Specific attention will be paid to the duties imposed on businesses developing AI systems, especially focusing on the developments of laws and standards at EU level (e.g., the proposal for an Artificial Intelligence Act), as well as on companies employing AI in their business activities. The course will also deal with many of the aspects related to liability for damages caused by AI, from product liability to general civil and criminal liability rules. A specific focus will concern the legal implications of the use of AI-based automated decision-making systems by boards of directors or company managers (so-called “CorpTech”), as well as of the use of generative AI
Artificial Intelligence for Business