News from Italy

AI Law

On September 23, 2025, Italy became the first EU member state to pass a law on artificial intelligence (legge 132/2025). The client newsletter will report on this in more detail and present the differences to the European legal framework. With regard to lawyers and all “professioni intellettuali,” the use of AI as an aid is permitted on condition that the decisive steps are reserved for humans. We have already reported several times on the reactions of German and Italian judges to briefs from colleagues that were peppered with AI hallucinations and cited many non-existent decisions by the highest courts. An Italian lawyer was caught red-handed before the Turin Labor Court (No. 2120/2025 of September 16, 2025). He had to pay a penalty of €500 to each defendant for the gibberish he submitted (Art. 96 (3) Italian Code of Civil Procedure).

Old fashioned

With all the scams in the digital world, one is almost glad of the classic deceptions that still require personal commitment and the art of mimicry. In addition to the many fake ENEL craftsmen who roam Italy's apartments, the fake carabinieri and the many fake priests and monks, there is a new scam from Naples to report. In busy restaurants, a man dressed as a head waiter may come to the table and politely ask the guests if they would like to pay. The bill is issued, the money is collected, and the head waiter disappears—much to the chagrin of the restaurant owner and the real waiters.

Deepfakes banned in Italy

In Italy, the new AI law (see this issue) has also introduced a new criminal offense in the Italian Penal Code (Art. 612-quater). This makes the unlawful distribution of deepfake content (images, videos, voices) that has been generated or manipulated using AI a criminal offense if it is capable of deceiving and causing damage. Italian Prime Minister Georgia Meloni herself is a constant victim of fake videos, often with pornographic content. Here, too, Italy is the first country in the EU to introduce such a regulation.

Back