Carlo Salizzo moved to Ireland to be the heart of European technology law as it was written. Ten years later, he is exactly where he wanted to be.
A New Zealander who has called Ireland home for almost a decade, Salizzo came here with a clear goal – to be at the center of European technology law as it was written. His timing, he says, was lucky
“Moving to Ireland was to be involved in the exciting, exciting, high-quality legal tech industry happening in Dublin and Ireland,” he says. “I think, I was lucky in my time, that when I arrived, it was the period of preparation for the GDPR, and I had the opportunity to work with people who were starting to face this big, world-changing law.”
The comparison between his home country and his adopted one is one thing Salizzo draws easily. “I find it funny that if you put Ireland in the middle of the Atlantic, away from the EU and the UK, you’d have New Zealand,” he tells me. “Both are small, open, English-speaking economies with great global ambitions. The difference, of course, is that Ireland sits at the crossroads of European regulation and a truly international level technology sector.
Since arriving in Ireland, Salizzo has worked with some of the biggest companies in the world, navigating the ever-expanding landscape of European digital law. The past five years at Dentons Ireland have been something of a success story, he says. The technology and digital management team has grown under the “watchful eye, stewardship and energy” of managing partner Eavan Saunders, he says.
International meets local knowledge
“We have really worked to put together the best team, pulling in lawyers with international experience and deep knowledge of the Irish market to establish a team made up of stars across the board. And technology and digital management is the latest area, with partners including David Kirton and Julian Michael.
“Many of the clients we work with run a European operation, or a European legal team, or more broadly, an EMEA legal team,” he says. “Part of delivering really good advice is understanding what’s happening across the island, in the UK, in Europe, even in the Middle East, Africa and elsewhere. And by being able to bring that Irish knowledge and into the Dentons engine, the Dentons company is very strong.”
Ask Salizzo what defines 2026 from the point of view of the digital system and the answer comes in three clear chapters: artificial intelligence, cyber security and cyber security. Privacy, he notes, has not gone away – but it has become so intertwined with everything else that it is now background rather than subject.
“Everyone wants to know what’s going on with AI. Everyone wants to know how the new law will work, but also your existing legal concepts – such as intellectual property or contract law – that you need to adapt to, or will have an impact on your release of artificial intelligence,” he says. In line with that, cyber security has risen firmly on the boardroom agenda, and cyber security – driven by the EU’s Digital Services Act – is increasingly in the public eye.
EU AI legislation
On AI, Salizzo is quick to correct what he sees as a persistent misconception. EU AI legislation, he says, is not GDPR 2.0.
“With the EU AI Law, one of the common misconceptions in the early days is that it’s a privacy law, or that it’s a type of GDPR II. It’s not at all,” he says. “That’s very close to product safety or product liability law.”
Responsibilities, he explains, fall mainly on providers who put AI tools on the market. Businesses that do not sell AI as a core offering will find their compliance burden very light – especially if they fall outside the categories of prohibited and high-risk activities set out in the Act.
“Most of the time, with a few appropriate policies, we can help them understand that easily,” he said. For those building and selling AI products, however, certification requirements represent a real new frontier for software organizations. “Doing these certification tests, making sure you have the CE mark and making sure you have the right documentation – it’s not something that most software organizations will get used to.”
Cyber resilience
A murkier area, he suggests, is what might be called AI’s reputation problem — the gap between official policy and actual behavior within organizations.
“If people don’t say they are using AI, they are still using AI, but they may be doing it in a way that is not in line with business goals, or they may not be doing it in a way that will protect intellectual property,” he said. And when it comes to cyber security, the implications run deep. “AI acts as a force multiplier in all of this. If you’re worried about cybersecurity, you have to look at the fact that your bad actors, your enemies, are now empowered to be many, many times more successful in what they’re trying to do.”
The result, it is clear, is that businesses must keep up with that speed. “The game is trying to make sure you’re using AI in a way where you’re going beyond what’s being put in — whether it’s complaints, plaintiffs, new legislation, new rules, investigations.”
The cyber threat is something Salizzo takes seriously – and Ireland’s recent history makes it hard to look away. “The HSE data breach a few years ago is not far from mind,” he said. Repeated attacks on the national health infrastructure and other parts of the economy have made cyber security a reality, not just a compliance exercise.
At Dentons, the offering is built on preparedness like response: stress-tested policies before an incident, threats known in advance, tabletop tests run while systems are still running. “You can’t predict when an incident will happen or when an attack will come,” he says. “Part of the offering we’ve built here at Dentons is the ability to manage that and, more importantly, help our customers be prepared when it happens, so we can mitigate and avoid the worst impact.”
EU Inc & GDPR
For EU Inc – a proposal for a simplified European company structure that has sparked huge discussions in the start-up and business world – Salizzo is measured but admirable. “It certainly seems like a good step in the right direction. The challenge will be to make it work, as always,” he said. He flags the potential importance of the bankruptcy process, which can be compared to Chapter 11 in the US, for new investors looking for certainty. But he adds something important to note for Irish companies: an Irish limited company, familiar with the common law and the English language workplace, retains its own great appeal. “It’s possible that an Irish limited company continues to be the right way to do that, with other entities emerging across Europe.”
In the simplification of the GDPR, which is currently going through the European legislative process, Salizzo is equally measured. The proposed changes are modest, he says, but some have a real purpose. “It is acceptable to see things like being measured when the right of access is, in fact, excessive,” he said. “It’s very, very welcome to see a single entry point for reporting breaches across European laws that require you to report incidents. We’d very much like to see practical and commercial changes like those brought to European law.”
AI and the legal field
Then there’s the question that hits much closer to home: how AI is reshaping the legal profession itself. Here, Salizzo is honest and passionate in equal measure. “We’re very early in our deployment of AI. We have a tool called Fleet AI, built, built on top of ChatGPT, and that’s a very big part of how we do business now,” he said. Beyond the major language brands, Dentons’ creative team uses a dozen different technologies to deliver legal services, he says – leveraging the company’s global resources to stay on top.
“I’m really excited to see what’s happening, and I’m really excited, frankly, for our team – built with this in mind – to innovate and lead the way in terms of providing the best service to our customers in the most secure and technology-enabled way possible.”
Looking ahead to 2026, Salizzo is hopeful that Ireland will pass its long-awaited cyber security bill this year. Ireland’s Presidency of the Council of the EU means a busy government calendar, he admits. And in October, Dentons is helping to launch a European AI innovation month and an AI conference in Dublin, attracting colleagues and speakers from across the continent.
“It’s actually going to be a very exciting year,” he said, “after a series of very exciting years. From a digital management perspective, it’s a real privilege to work with some of the clients we’re going to work with here.”
On the big question – whether the law can really keep up with technology – Salizzo has a clear view. “The law is there and the technology is coming, and the law will adapt to it over time.” It is not the answer of a person who is afraid of being disturbed. Rather, it is the answer of a person who has decided which side he wants to be on.
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