30th Anniversary – Plenary Session Four - Embracing Technological Innovation: The Ombudsman’s Role in the Age of Digitalisation and Artificial Intelligence

30th Anniversary – Plenary Session Four - Embracing Technological Innovation: The Ombudsman’s Role in the Age of Digitalisation and Artificial Intelligence

Published October 16, 2025

The final plenary session of the International Ombudsman Conference focused on one of the most defining challenges of our time — how to ensure that technological progress advances human dignity rather than erodes it.

Moderated by Ms Rachel Bondi Attard, Head of Media and Communication Strategy at the Malta Chamber, this session explored how Ombudsman institutions can adapt to the digital age, balancing innovation with accountability, and ensuring that fairness and justice continue to underpin public administration in the era of Artificial Intelligence (AI).

Digitalisation and AI have already transformed the way public administrations operate. Automated decision-making, predictive analytics, and data-driven systems promise efficiency and speed — yet they also pose risks of algorithmic bias, opacity, and exclusion. Persons must still be able to understand, question, and appeal the decisions that affect their lives.

The panel brought together Ombudsmen, human rights experts, and digital governance scholars from across Europe to examine how oversight institutions can remain both technologically competent and ethically vigilant.

Tena Šimonović Einwalter, Ombudswoman of Croatia

Ombudswoman of Croatia, Tena Šimonović Einwalter highlighted the double-edged nature of Artificial Intelligence — a tool that can expand inclusion but also deepen inequality. She warned that persons already in vulnerable situations, such as older people, migrants, and minorities, may face new forms of discrimination as welfare, employment, and public services become increasingly automated.

Referring to the EU AI Act and Council of Europe studies, she explained that algorithmic decision-making in areas like recruitment, social benefits, or surveillance carries “high-risk” implications for human rights. AI-driven systems, she noted, can amplify existing biases or create invisible barriers that exclude persons from opportunities.

Ms Šimonović Einwalter stressed that Ombudsman institutions and National Human Rights Institutions (NHRIs) have a critical oversight role in this emerging legal and ethical landscape. They must engage with governments, parliaments, and regulators to ensure that AI systems are designed and monitored with human rights in mind.

She concluded that the Ombudsman’s moral authority and technical understanding must evolve hand in hand, “because fairness in the digital age must be coded into the system itself.”

Ulle Madise, Chancellor of Justice of Estonia

The Chancellor of Justice of Estonia, Ulle Madise drew on Estonia’s unique digital experience to reflect on the tension between technological control and human freedom. In a country often seen as a model for e-governance, she warned against the temptation to believe that total safety can be achieved through total surveillance.

“Technology can prevent accidents or crime,” she said, “but democracy cannot survive under total control.” Recalling Estonia’s own history of censorship and surveillance under Soviet occupation, she emphasised that technological power must never be allowed to undermine liberty.

She reaffirmed that the Ombudsman’s duty is twofold: to support innovation while protecting rights. Laws such as the GDPR, the EU AI Act and the Council of Europe’s AI Convention enshrine the principle that human beings must remain in control of machines.

“Technology must serve people,” she concluded, “never the other way round.”

Simona Granata-Menghini, Director and Secretary of the Venice Commission, Council of Europe

Simona Granata-Menghini Director and Secretary of the Venice Commission, Council of Europe examined how the rapid growth of digital technologies has redefined the boundaries of human rights protection. She stressed that Ombudsman institutions must be both guardians and interpreters of rights in this new context.

She outlined the Council of Europe’s ongoing work to provide Ombudsmen with tools to face these challenges, including the Venice Principles (2019), which have become a global reference for Ombudsman independence, and the Framework Convention on Artificial Intelligence and Human Rights, Democracy and the Rule of Law, opened for signature in 2024.

This Convention, she explained, commits States to ensuring that AI systems are fully consistent with fundamental rights. The Council of Europe, she said, remains “the right forum to support Ombudsman institutions in their mission of holding governments accountable for the obligations they have undertaken.”

David Bondia, Ombudsman of Barcelona

David Bondia, Ombudsman of Barcelona introduced the innovative approach of the Barcelona Ombudsman’s Office, which is combining AI with participatory democracy to create more inclusive and accessible governance.

Through the iDEM Project (Innovative and Inclusive Democratic Spaces for Deliberation and Participation), funded by Horizon Europe, the Barcelona Ombudsman is developing AI-based tools to simplify public information and make it more accessible to groups often excluded from civic processes, including persons with disabilities, older adults, and migrants.

The project aims to deliver multilingual, adaptive communication models that help citizens understand policies and participate meaningfully in decision-making. “Technology,” Mr Bondia stated, “should be used to empower persons, not to widen the gap between the connected and the excluded.”

By aligning AI innovation with equality and participation, the Barcelona Ombudsman seeks to build a more inclusive digital democracy that leaves no one behind.

Prof. Alexiei Dingli, University of Malta – Faculty of ICT

Professor Alexiei Dingli presented a forward-looking vision entitled “The Ombudsman Reloaded.”
He described how emerging technologies could transform the Ombudsman institution itself, allowing it to act not only reactively but proactively.

AI tools, he explained, can help analyse complaints, identify patterns across departments, and detect systemic issues before they escalate. Automated systems can also improve accessibility through multilingual digital assistants and online platforms, ensuring faster and more inclusive service delivery.

He noted, however, that technology must remain a servant of justice: “AI can process the data, but humans make the decisions. The Ombudsman must always stay in control.”

Professor Dingli concluded that with the right balance between innovation and ethics, the Ombudsman could become “a faster, smarter, and more transparent institution — one that not only resolves complaints but prevents injustice before it occurs.”

Conclusion: A Human-Centred Digital Future

The final panel of the conference underscored a shared conviction: technology must never outpace human rights. Digitalisation and AI can bring efficiency, but they must not compromise fairness, transparency, or accessibility.

Ombudsman institutions, as guardians of good governance, are uniquely positioned to ensure that innovation remains human-centred. By combining ethical oversight with digital adaptation, they can shape a future where persons remain empowered, informed, and protected — even in an algorithmic age.

As the conference concluded, delegates agreed that the Ombudsman’s role in the 21st century extends far beyond administrative justice. It is to ensure that the digital state remains a just state, where every technological advance continues to serve the values of dignity, equality, and accountability that define democracy itself.