EUROSAI Seminar on Ethics
On October 17, 2025, a seminar titled "SAIs, Artificial Intelligence and Ethics" was held in Lisbon, organized by the EUROSAI network for ethics, chaired by the State Audit Office of the Republic of Croatia and the Portuguese Court of Auditors. The seminar was attended by sixty participants from 16 Supreme Audit Institutions (SAIs), the European Court of Auditors and the Portuguese National Anti-Corruption Mechanism (MENAC).
The seminar was aiming at providing participants with the opportunities, challenges and ethical implications concerning the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the scope of SAIs’ mandates and tasks; the updated ethics related information relevant for the SAIs' work and the opportunity to share progress and good practice of SAIs in ethics management, as well as the concerns that accompany it.
In order to achieve this, a series of interesting presentations and discussions were held on the importance of ethics in the application of AI in external (state) audit, the relationship between AI and democracy (with SAIs being the main pillar) and a panel on cooperation between SAIs and anti-corruption agencies.
During the seminar, European Court of Auditors presented the results of the audit of the EU AI Ambition, while several SAIs presented the results of several thematic researches on the use of AI in audits, as well as the related needs and perspectives. In addition, a breakout session was held on the possible need to update the ethical framework and practices of the SAIs, as well as a session in which several SAIs informed the participants about news in their own ethical framework or about other news, attitudes and challenges related to the topic of the seminar.
Representatives of the Croatian State Audit Office, who were also co-moderators of the seminar, presented the results of research on ethics in the use of AI in SAIs conducted by the EUROSAI Ethics Network, and the results of research on the needs of public servants for developing and strengthening the competencies necessary to understand the system and apply AI tools.
The seminar was aiming at providing participants with the opportunities, challenges and ethical implications concerning the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the scope of SAIs’ mandates and tasks; the updated ethics related information relevant for the SAIs' work and the opportunity to share progress and good practice of SAIs in ethics management, as well as the concerns that accompany it.
In order to achieve this, a series of interesting presentations and discussions were held on the importance of ethics in the application of AI in external (state) audit, the relationship between AI and democracy (with SAIs being the main pillar) and a panel on cooperation between SAIs and anti-corruption agencies.
During the seminar, European Court of Auditors presented the results of the audit of the EU AI Ambition, while several SAIs presented the results of several thematic researches on the use of AI in audits, as well as the related needs and perspectives. In addition, a breakout session was held on the possible need to update the ethical framework and practices of the SAIs, as well as a session in which several SAIs informed the participants about news in their own ethical framework or about other news, attitudes and challenges related to the topic of the seminar.
Representatives of the Croatian State Audit Office, who were also co-moderators of the seminar, presented the results of research on ethics in the use of AI in SAIs conducted by the EUROSAI Ethics Network, and the results of research on the needs of public servants for developing and strengthening the competencies necessary to understand the system and apply AI tools.
