Generative AI is reshaping how content is produced and distributed online, and testing the foundations of EU platform regulation.
The Digital Services Act (DSA) is built on a distinction between services that host user content and those that create it, a distinction that determines liability and access to safe harbour protections. Yet, systems such as ChatGPT or AI-powered search tools produce AI-generated outputs rather than merely storing or ranking third-party content. How should the DSA apply to services that generate AI content? And how does this framework interact with the emerging obligations under the AI Act?
In this policy deep dive, Marco Bassini (Tilburg University) examines whether generative AI providers or deployers can fall within the DSA’s intermediary regime, and what this means for liability, risk governance and enforcement, including in relation to systemic risks such as disinformation.
Speaker: Marco Bassini, Assistant Professor of Fundamental Rights and Artificial Intelligence, Tilburg University
Marco Bassini is an Assistant Professor of Fundamental Rights and Artificial Intelligence at the Tilburg Institute for Law, Technology, and Society (TILT), Tilburg University and a Research Fellow at CERRE – Center on Regulation in Europe. He teaches, among other courses, Regulation and Governance of AI in the Law and Technology master’s program and Law, Technology, and Society in the Global Law bachelor program. He is also the Principal Investigator of the Dutch-government funded research grant “RetrAIn – Enforcing Constitutional Rights in the Age of Generative Artificial Intelligence” and one of the experts selected by the European AI Office for the drawing-up of the General Purpose AI Code of Practice. He previously served as Adjunct Professor of Constitutional Law and Internet Law at Bocconi University, where he was also the Coordinator of the LLM in Law of Internet Technology from 2020 to 2023. He obtained his PhD in Constitutional Law and European Law from the University of Verona in 2016. A qualified lawyer with the Bar of Milan (Italy) since 2013, Dr. Bassini has over a decade of experience combining academic research with legal practice. He has worked as data protection counsel at international law firms in Milan and Rome, and served as Data Protection Officer for a leading Italian company. In addition, he has advised the Italian Communications Authority and the Italian Ministry for Technological Innovation. His expertise spans data protection law, AI regulation, and media law.
Moderator: Maria Giovanna Sessa, Research Manager, EU DisinfoLab
Maria Giovanna Sessa is the Research Manager at EU DisinfoLab. She holds a Ph.D. in Political Science and has previously worked for research foundations, think tanks, and as a university teaching assistant. She authored blog posts, book chapters, articles, and an e-book, as her research interests focus on the use of disinformation in political communication, gender-based attacks, and international crises, including FIMI. Lately, she has been working around DSA enforcement, linking research and policy implementation.
The opinions expressed are those of the speakers/authors and do not necessarily reflect the position of EU DisinfoLab. This webinar does not represent an endorsement by EU DisinfoLab of any organisation.