Newsletter

Week 23/2025

Anti Eskalation, pro Gemütlichkeit

Nikolaus Forgó

30 May 2025 — 4 min read

Nussdorfer Wehr- und Schleusenanlage (Nussdorf weir and lock system) by night, on a ride from Kritzendorf back to Vienna

NSFW

This week, there are reasons to have two songs of the week that need to be heard together.

The first is from Funny Van Dannen who is, indeed, funny.

It’s also on YouTube (sound only), but must not be embedded here (for whatever reason). Frankfurter Rundschau has a text about him.

The second is from Felix Kummer (Kraftclub) and comes in two versions that are somehow extremes on a spectrum.

There’s one version with Max Raabe

and a live version with Henning May

ARD has a full video of his last concert that took place (precisely) two years ago. It ends with Max Raabe.

Retrospect

Masaryk University and Research Institute

We had a full day symposium with the Institute of Law and Technology of Masaryk University Brno and the Vienna based Research Institute. Main topics - apart from project reports - were the impact of AI on legal profession and studies (spoiler: very significant but hard to grasp) and the AI act (spoiler: very hard to grasp, perhaps not that significant).

Ibrahim, Olga, Catarina and Michael made it on the picture.

Literally on the same day a department delegation with (from left to right) Katja, Hande, Mariana, Ksenia and Saskia was in Brussels at CPDP.

Meta and AI

Meta’s announcement to use public entries for AI-related purposes if the data subject didn’t object and the decision of OLG-Köln on this kept me quite busy this week.

I gave an interview on this that was cited on several sites (here, here, here, here) and spoke at my presentations on this.

AI and Sustainability

My gigs in Graz and, even more, at WU (following a kind invitation of Claudia Wutscher and Sophie Martinetz; see also last week’s Weekly for reference) made me think a lot about energy consumption of AI and what this means for (European) AI (regulation).

There’s a mass of interesting material on the AI energy footprint out there worth being read such as this IEA-report, this MIT Technology Review paper, an assessment of the World Economic Forum but also from fellow substackers.

I was quite impressed about the uncertainty in all the forecasts that I read. Some argue that energy consumption will explode, others that, to the contrary, due to gains in efficiency, we might even be able to reduce (some) emissions. It’s somehow concerning (or: depressing) that Europe is more and more getting into a situation where AI-innovations are not only not developed here, but not even available (so, for example, many of Google’s new features) like Reasoning or Veo3,

wheras the carbon emmissions (and other negative consequences) caused by these inventions, of course, do arrive in Europe. Sophie Martinetz has a report and some more pictures on LinkedIn about the event.

Prospect

Vienna waits for you

Anna and Katja from the department are organising an exciting workshop for young(er) researchers in Vienna.

Topic: (Dis)information - The use of new technologies in the media landscape

8 September 2025 at top floor of the Juridicum in Vienna

Submission deadline: 01 June 2025, 23:59

Submissions here: https://mri.univie.ac.at/registrierung/workshop-leitende/

More info: https://mri.univie.ac.at/

Datenschutztag

This year’s event is on Monday in the Federal Ministry of Justice. I don’t think it’s public (I am probably invited as a member of the Datenschutzrat), but the agenda looks interesting.

#arsboni

The Digital Services Act forsees national digital services coordinators as an instrument to enforce and streamline compliance with the law. I have the privilege to speak with Dr. Susanne Lackner who is leading the Austrian coordinator on Tuesday at 18.00 CET.

Universität Liechtenstein and AIA

On Wednesday, June 4, at 17.00 I may give an online lecture on the AI Act for the University of Liechtenstein. More info is on Linkedin.

Look and Feel

Concordia Ball

I had, again, the pleasure to be on the Concordia Ball. It’s a wonderful party with, in particular, lots of young people. Vienna’s mayor Michael Ludwig was sitting very close to me during the formal opening and he seemed to enjoy what he saw.

The opening with all speeches delivered is on YouTube.

We had a little bit of a Harry Potter moment when leaving the Vienna city hall - Rathaus (that is a beautiful location for a ball, in particular in summer when the inner courtyards are open).

City Lights

On Wednesday June 4 at 19.30 CET Charlie Chaplin’s masterpiece “City Lights”, accompanied by live-music, will be shown in Konzerthaus. Tickets are still available.