During this event, we will explore the societal and environmental risks of being (“ser” in Spanish) AI users. How is that AI usage is affecting democracies? What about its effects on human cognition? What are the environmental costs of using it?
We are looking forward to welcoming you for an afternoon full of insights from VU researchers about the risks of AI use and current ongoing works, where you also will have the opportunity to do hands-on activities during the workshop session and to showcase your own research by giving a lighting talk. For early career researchers in a Dutch institute or university, we are offering financial aid to travel to the symposium to present their research.
Panelists
- Dr. Emma Beauxis-Aussalet, Department of Computer Science.
Dr. Beauxis-Aussalet will give an overview of the technical and societal challenges with assessing AI fairness and robustness. - Dr. Pascal Koenig, Department of Political Science and Public Administration.
Dr. Koenig will talk about the changing relations between artificial government and citizen-state. - Dr. Vincenzo Stoico, Department of Computer Science.
Dr. Stoico will walk us through the quantification of AI energy usage.
Keynote Felienne Hermans
AI is the future, but whose?
What is AI? What is AI for, and what are its goals? Can we use AI for science? For education? The dominant discourse in 2026 makes it easy to believe in 2026 that AI is good, and will make our lives and jobs much easier.
In this talk Felienne Hermans, professor of Computer Science education will take you through an alternate history of AI, programming, and its epistemological development. She will take you through over a century of alternative tech voices and discuss what we can learn from that for the current state of programming and its future.