Biography
Roberto Bortone is a senior public official, researcher and lecturer whose work focuses primarily on the relationship between artificial intelligence and discrimination, as well as on hate speech, antisemitism, antigypsyism, Roma and Sinti inclusion, digital platforms and equality policies.
He currently works within the Secretariat of the Italian National Coordinator for the Fight against Antisemitism, following extensive professional experience at UNAR — the Italian National Office against Racial Discrimination — where he contributed to the development of national and European policies on equality, online discrimination, hate speech, minority protection and data collection. He has also worked with the Council of Europe and other international institutions on anti-discrimination and hate-speech policies.
He is a member of the Centro di Ricerca sulle Relazioni Interculturali — Research Centre for Intercultural Relations — at Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore. The Centre promotes research and training on intercultural relations, social inclusion, citizenship, civil society and action against discrimination.
His research examines how artificial intelligence, algorithms and digital environments can reproduce, amplify and transform prejudice, but also how technological tools can be used to detect and counter discriminatory phenomena. This perspective is central to his two most recent books. In Molto Social Troppo Dark, he analyses the darker dynamics of social media, online hate, algorithmic amplification and the growing influence of artificial intelligence on public discourse. His latest book, L'ultimo pregiudizio. L'antiziganismo tra storia e attualità, explores the historical and contemporary forms of antigypsyism, including their circulation and reinforcement through digital platforms and AI-driven systems.
For the 2026–2027 academic year, he holds teaching appointments for Social Work Laboratories at Roma Tre University and LUMSA University. At Roma Tre, he has also taught Sociology of Ethnic Relations. His academic and professional activities combine policy analysis, research, teaching and public engagement, with particular attention to the connections between technology, prejudice, democratic institutions and social inclusion.
Within AEGIS, Roberto Bortone contributes to the Steering Committee his unique perspective on the frontier where equality law, human-rights policy and the governance of artificial intelligence converge — a decisive asset in ensuring that the Foundation's work on the ethical governance of AI remains firmly anchored to the protection of the most exposed minorities and to the concrete experience of those who, in Europe and beyond, face the daily reality of digital discrimination.