UniLodz Researcher at the University of Oxford on International Law, Artificial Intelligence, and Cybersecurity

The University of Łódź was the only Polish institution represented at this year's Ideas Network 2030 Summer University in Oxford, an event, co-organised by the Hanns Seidel Foundation Poland and devoted to the future of Europe and its international partnerships. The event, held within the historic walls of Corpus Christi College, brought together a group of international experts from politics, business, and academia, including Damian Green, President of Ideas Network 2030 and a former UK Cabinet minister, Sir Paul Collier, Professor of Economics and Public Policy at the Blavatnik School of Government, University of Oxford, and Klaus Welle, former Secretary-General of the European Parliament and current Chairman of the Academic Council of the Martens Centre.

The Academy opened with a keynote address by Lord William Hague, Chancellor of the University of Oxford, who stressed, among other points, the need to ensure that new technologies remain compliant with international law.

Dr Joanna Kulesza, Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Law and Administration, University of Łódź, and Director of Lodz Cyber Hub, spoke in the opening panel "Digital Transformation: The Power of AI: Challenges to 2040," presenting an international law perspective on the challenges the rapid development of artificial intelligence poses for Europe's cybersecurity. She noted that while the application of international law in cyberspace is confirmed by both UN expert group reports and the Tallinn Manual 2.0, key thresholds, including the point at which a cyber operation amounts to a use of force or justifies a state's exercise of self-defence, remain unsettled. She argued that the answer to these challenges should lie in convergence among existing regulatory frameworks, including the EU's Artificial Intelligence Act, NATO's operational capacities, and the norms of responsible state behaviour developed at the UN level.

Participation in the event contributes to the goal set by the University of Łódź's leadership of building lasting relationships with German-speaking institutions and active participation in shaping European and international policies.

I approach this issue as a scholar of international law working on cybersecurity and human rights, and from the vantage point of Central Europe, a region that has for over a decade carried the practical weight of hybrid and cyber operations. International law applies in cyberspace, yet key thresholds, including the point at which a cyber operation justifies a state's exercise of self-defence, remain unsettled. The challenge for the next decade is not the absence of law, but the absence of institutional follow-through on the law we already have.

– says Dr Joanna Kulesza.

With thanks to the Hanns Seidel Foundation Poland for the invitation and hospitality.

Photo: Andrea Polanski (Hanns Seidel Foundation)