Fifth round of NOTIONES Working Groups, part 2: WG10 Misuse of emerging technologies

As described in a previous newspiece, Working Groups have been a low‑hierarchy, practical, and hands‑on form of collaboration and professional exchange in the NOTIONES project 2021–2026. With various NOTIONES‑related themes and forms of working together, the groups have given a platform for sharing expert knowledge, forming networks, and building shared understanding of technological and societal challenges facing law enforcement actors in Europe today.

WG9 and WG10 titles and content were modelled on forthcoming calls mentioned in the Horizon Europe Work Programme 2026–2027, Cluster 3 Civil Security for Society. While WG9 took up the theme “Crime prevention approaches, online and off-line, tackling the nexus between addictions and crime”, WG10 took up “Preventing and countering the misuse of emerging technologies for criminal purposes, including issues related to lawful access to data”.

During the final round of working groups of bringing intelligence practitioners, technology providers, researchers and analysts together, the work has been under the rubrics of Working Group 9 (WG9): “Crime prevention approaches regarding addictions and crime” and Working Group 10 (WG10): “Misuse of emerging technologies for criminal purposes”.

WG10 held seven meetings between December 2025 and June 2026. WG10 focused on addressing the rapidly developing role of artificial intelligence (AI) and large language models (LLMs) in facilitating different forms of crime. Meetings featured presentations by an expert from the chairing organisation, Marketscape, and guest speakers from within and outside the consortium.

The meetings addressed themes such as AI‑enabled cybercrime and what law enforcement should know about it, defence against AI‑enabled cybercrime, showcasing a practical commercial platform for monitoring the dark web, technical foresight and AI for forensic science, crypto‑related crime and data leaks, the practical application of AI to criminal activities and crime investigation, and cyber threats and digital insecurity affecting social trust in society.

As a result of its work, participants in WG10 meetings took part in joint learning, knowledge exchange, and capacity building across NOTIONES sectors (law enforcement, business, and academia). WG10 meetings deepened participants’ understanding of how AI is transforming criminal activities and encouraged cross‑disciplinary collaboration. WG10 has also fertilised consortium‑building and the preparation of a Horizon project application in the call focused on the chosen theme, “HORIZON‑CL3‑2026‑01‑FCT‑02 Open topic on preventing and countering the misuse of emerging technologies for criminal purposes, including issues related to lawful access to data”, led by Laurea University of Applied Sciences.

Working Groups 9 and 10 have both served as platforms to share and process timely research, expertise, and good practices, particularly on the rapidly developing role of artificial intelligence (AI) and large language models (LLMs) in facilitating different forms of crime. They have also helped in drawing together insights from the duration of the project in preparing and training consortium partners to take part in Horizon calls and act as different types of project partners, applying academic knowledge and recent innovations to the everyday work of European law enforcement agencies.