Energy Policy In Cyprus: Balancing Immediate Relief With Long-Term Strategic Investment

by THEFUTURE.TEAM

March 24, 2026

Cyprus is facing a key moment in its energy policy, as rising electricity costs continue to put pressure on households. Constantinos Constanti, President of the Scientific and Technical Chamber (ETEK), outlined a two-track approach combining short-term relief with longer-term structural changes.

Immediate Relief Measures

Constanti said short-term measures are needed to ease pressure on consumers. This includes adjustments in the competitive electricity market to ensure that cost benefits from renewable energy projects reach households.

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He pointed to modern photovoltaic parks and private storage systems, which operate at lower cost than traditional generation. Part of these gains, he argued, should be reflected in lower electricity prices, especially as consumers continue to bear the cost of broader energy investments.

Long-Term Strategic Solutions

Beyond immediate relief, Constanti highlighted the need to review how carbon costs are calculated in the wholesale electricity market. In Cyprus, carbon costs account for around 19% of the average household electricity bill, compared to an EU average of 11%. This gap points to structural issues in the system that require policy changes. He said long-term solutions will require significant public investment to address these imbalances and support a more efficient and sustainable energy system.

Enhanced Support For Vulnerable Consumers

Constanti also called for a more structured approach to supporting vulnerable households. Current support mechanisms, which rely heavily on applications and co-financing, may not reach those most in need. He suggested creating a centralised system to identify households at risk of energy poverty and prioritise targeted measures. These could include replacing energy-intensive appliances and introducing practical efficiency upgrades that reduce costs in the short term.

Transparency in how energy-related revenues are used is also key, he added. Redirecting part of these funds back to households could help reduce costs and strengthen the social impact of energy policy.

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Copyright Law Struggles To Keep Up With AI Training

by News Editor

August 24, 2026

Courts Are Still Applying Old Copyright Rules To AI

AI companies train models on enormous amounts of published material, including books, articles and academic research. Whether using that content without authors’ permission violates copyright law remains unresolved.

Much of the debate centres on fair use, which allows copyrighted material to be used without permission in certain circumstances. Courts consider factors such as the purpose of the use, how much material was involved and its impact on the original market.

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Anthropic Case Sets An Important Precedent

A major case involving Anthropic and a group of authors provided one of the clearest rulings so far. Judge William Alsup found that using copyrighted books to train AI models was lawful, comparing the process to people reading and studying literature before creating something new.

Anthropic was nevertheless ordered to pay $1.5 billion in a settlement. The penalty concerned books the company had obtained from illegal online libraries rather than the AI training itself.

For AI companies, that distinction could prove significant because it separates studying copyrighted material from directly copying it.

Competition Could Be The Key Issue

A case involving Thomson Reuters and Ross Intelligence offers a different perspective. A court ruled that Ross could not claim fair use after using Reuters’ copyrighted material to develop a competing AI-powered legal research platform.

The decision suggests courts may be less willing to consider AI training fair use when copyrighted content is used to build a product that directly competes with the original.

For authors, an unresolved question is whether AI-generated content should be considered competition for the works used to train these models.

The Law Has Yet To Catch Up

US copyright law predates generative AI by decades, leaving courts to apply old principles to new technology. Questions also remain over copyright protection for AI-generated works. In Thaler v. Perlmutter, a court ruled that material created entirely by AI cannot receive copyright protection.

Major AI companies remain involved in copyright litigation, and different courts could reach different conclusions. For now, there is no universal rule: the legality of AI training will depend on the circumstances of each case and how courts ultimately interpret copyright and fair use.

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