📋 Tender Overview
Federal Ministry of Justice is organising a symposium on the topic of criminal law in the new digital age – Metaverse and Generative AI. At this event, participants will deal with the rapid developments in the areas of the metaverse and generative AI and the opportunities and challenges that arise from them for criminal law. The event, at which high-ranking experts from science and practice will have their say, was opened this morning by the Federal Minister of Justice, Dr. Marco Buschmann. The opening was followed by a keynote speech by the Bavarian State Minister of Justice Georg Eisenreich.
Federal Minister of Justice Dr. Marco Buschmann explains:
"New technologies open up new opportunities for us - and at the same time raise new questions about our law. What law applies in the metaverse? Who is responsible in terms of criminal law if damage is caused by the use of self-learning artificial intelligence? And what applies if criminal acts are committed by avatars? All of these are important questions for the criminal law of the future. We need to ensure its effective application to combat crime in the metaverse and through generative AI. Together with experts, we want to talk about this. We want to investigate what can be done to be best prepared for crime risks. We will also discuss how we can make the best possible use of the possibilities of AI for criminal proceedings. The important thing in all this is to find the balance between effective law enforcement and the freedom of citizens in the digital space as well."
The Bavarian State Minister of Justice, Georg Eisenreich, explains:
"We are at the beginning of a new era. Generative AI and perhaps the metaverse in the future have the power to change society.
Unfortunately, criminals are among the first to use new technical possibilities. Therefore, criminal law must deal with the new possibilities at an early stage. The metaverse must not be a lawless space. That's why we need answers to new phenomena – theft of virtual goods, or the whole identity, terrorist propaganda or harassment of women and children.
The potential for abuse of artificial intelligence is also huge. With the help of deceptively real videos and perfectly imitated voices, fraudsters can take well-known scams such as CEO fraud or grandchild trick fraud to a new level. It is also becoming easier and easier to incorporate people, especially women, into pornographic photos or videos via deep fake. At the same time, digitization opens up new opportunities for investigators, which we want to take advantage of. These include, for example, virtual crime scene inspections or the discovery of child pornography content with the help of AI."
Top-class experts discuss until the afternoon
The aim of today's event is to identify concrete needs for action in the field of criminal law with regard to the most pressing questions about the metaverse and AI with regard to criminal law. At today's event, experts from the fields of science, technology and law will therefore discuss the most pressing issues in this area.
After the opening remarks by the Federal Minister of Justice Dr. Marco Buschmann and the keynote speech by the Bavarian State Minister of Justice Georg Eisenreich, the conference began with a keynote speech by Dr. Bernhard Waltl and Dr. Dierk Schindler from the Liquid Legal Institute e.V. on the topic of "Metaverse and Generative AI – the new dimension of digital reality!". Afterwards, Prof. Dr. Dr. Eric Hilgendorf from the University of Würzburg discussed fundamental legal questions of a (criminal) regulation of metaverse and generative AI in another keynote speech.
In the further course of the event this afternoon, other speakers from criminal law academia and from the practice of courts and law enforcement authorities will deepen important aspects of the overall question, such as substantive legal problems of the metaverse or criminal prosecution in the metaverse. An inventory from the point of view of judicial practice is also planned. The event will be rounded off with a panel discussion on the topic of "Findings and Outlook: What Needs for Action and What Options for Action Exist at the National and Supranational Level?". The conference will end this afternoon with closing remarks by the State Secretary in the Federal Ministry of Justice, Dr. Angelika Schlunck.
Today's concrete findings and results are expected to be presented to the state ministers of justice at the next Justice Ministers' Conference in autumn 2024.
