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Dr Matthias Artzt

Senior legal counsel, Deutsche Bank AG

Data protection lawAI law and agentic AIBlockchain law

Legal career at Deutsche Bank

Dr Matthias Artzt is a certified lawyer and has been senior legal counsel at Deutsche Bank AG since 1999[1]. Before joining the bank he worked as a lawyer at a law firm in Stuttgart[1]. He obtained his Doctor of Law degree at the University of Tübingen[1][2].

At Deutsche Bank he advises internal clients around the world on data protection and on complex international outsourcing agreements that involve data privacy rules[1][2]. He has practised data protection law for many years and was closely involved in implementing the GDPR within Deutsche Bank AG[1].

He became a Certified Information Privacy Professional/Europe (CIPP/E) in January 2018 and has been a member of the IAPP's European Advisory Board since January 2020[1]. His speaker profiles describe expertise in how the GDPR interacts with cloud computing, big data, artificial intelligence, blockchain, the US CLOUD Act and PSD2[1][2].

Blockchain law

Artzt is a co-editor and co-author of the Handbook of Blockchain Law, published by Wolters Kluwer[1]. In February 2021 he gave a KuppingerCole talk on tensions between blockchain technology and data protection principles[1].

He is editor-in-chief of the International Journal of Blockchain Law (IJBL)[2]. The Global Blockchain Business Council's legal and regulatory group launched the journal in November 2021 as an open-access online publication, written and edited by lawyers, to help business and non-legal readers understand blockchain and digital assets[3].

AI law and the International Handbook of AI Law

Artzt is a co-editor of the International Handbook of AI Law, published by Wolters Kluwer[2]. The book, subtitled A Guide to Understanding and Resolving the Legal Challenges of Artificial Intelligence, was published by Kluwer Law International in 2025 with Oliver Belitz, Simon Hembt and Nils Loelfing, and was reviewed in the Global Privacy Law Review[4].

In the Solicitors Journal he has written on conflicts between AI and the EU GDPR (2023) and on how the EU and UK diverge in regulating AI (2023)[5]. In March 2025 he and John deVadoss of the Global Blockchain Business Council reviewed common approaches to AI safety and their shortcomings, and proposed a different approach for the industry[6].

In June 2025 he co-wrote a paper with Yumi Ahn and Masayuki Otake of Tokyo International Law Office on legal and governance issues raised by AI agents in the EU and Japan[7]. The paper contrasts the EU's codified, prescriptive approach with Japan's non-binding, principle-based approach[7].

Writing on agentic AI in 2026

In an April 2026 Solicitors Journal article, Artzt and deVadoss argued that AI has moved from being a tool to becoming an actor and that legal rules on authority, negligence, consent and liability still assume human conduct[8]. A July 2026 article by the same authors examined how autonomous AI attacks challenge cyber insurance and shift risk onto insured businesses[9].

In August 2026 he and Andrew Fei of King & Wood examined who is liable when agentic AI causes loss, starting from the principle that liability falls on people and institutions, not machines[10]. In September 2026 he and deVadoss wrote that governance frameworks designed for passive tools are not enough for agentic AI, and that organisations need to control and continuously evidence the authority they delegate to autonomous systems[11].

He has spoken at national and international conferences, including at the Central Bank of Brazil and at Ecosystems 2030 in Spain[2].

Known for

Sources

  1. KuppingerCole: Dr Matthias Artzt speaker profile — checked 6 Nov 2026
  2. AI & Data Analytics Network (IQPC), Agentic AI DACH: speaker page — checked 6 Nov 2026
  3. Finadium: GBBC publishes International Journal of Blockchain Law, November 2021 — checked 6 Nov 2026
  4. Global Privacy Law Review (Kluwer): book review of the International Handbook of AI Law, 2025 — checked 6 Nov 2026
  5. Solicitors Journal: Matthias Artzt author page — checked 6 Nov 2026
  6. Solicitors Journal: AI safety: why a new approach is needed, March 2025 — checked 6 Nov 2026
  7. International In-house Counsel Journal: Legal and Governance Issues regarding Agentic AI in the EU and Japan, June 2025 — checked 6 Nov 2026
  8. Solicitors Journal: Agentic AI is acting, but the law still assumes humans, April 2026 — checked 6 Nov 2026
  9. Solicitors Journal: Agentic AI and the law, July 2026 — checked 6 Nov 2026
  10. Solicitors Journal: Who is liable when agentic AI causes loss?, August 2026 — checked 6 Nov 2026
  11. Solicitors Journal: Agentic AI governance: Ten reasons legacy controls are no longer sufficient, September 2026 — checked 6 Nov 2026
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