Digital Humanism Workshop: A Paradigm Shift in Computer Science

Location:
Online and in Vienna, Favoritenstrasse 9-11, Erdgeschoss, Raum HEEG02, Austria
Date:
November 29, 2024 @ Online and in Vienna, Favoritenstrasse 9-11, Erdgeschoss, Raum HEEG02, Austria

Organizers: Hannes Werthner, Helga Nowotny, Ludger Hagedorn, Thomas Haigh, Agata Ciabattoni, Christiane Wendehorst, Claudia Plant, Hans Akkermans, Stefan Woltran

See more information at the Institute for Human Sciences (IWM).

In the lecture series on Digital Humanism, TU Wien is organizing in a workshop to discuss the paradigm shift in Computer Science, from algorithmic certainty to probablility and large language models as story machines. The pros and cons of this shift, due to the rapid introduction of “new” Artificial Intelligence, based on machine learning and data, is now the subject of intense public debates. It is confronting computer science and science in general, and having a huge impact on society at large.

Large language models have made their public entrance in Society, by late 2022. Two years later they have been adopted by more than a billion users, worldwide, and numbers are growing every day. Also for scientific research and education, this has fargoing implications, also given the reliance on big data sources and the need for large IT platforms and infrastructure. These are all topics to be discussed during this two-day workshop, organized by the Faculty of Informatics and the Institute for Human Sciences of TU Wien.

Thursday, 28 November

9:00–10:30
Panel I: History of AI

Moderator: Hannes Werthner (TU Wien)
Speaker: Thomas Haigh (University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee)
Panel: Enrico Nardelli (University of Rome “Tor Vergata”), Lynda Hardman (CWI Amsterdam)

11:00–12:30
Panel II: Symbolic AI – What It Can and Cannot Do

Moderator: Agata Ciabattoni (TU Wien)
Speaker: Thomas Eiter (TU Wien)
Panel: Alexander Schindler (AIT), Martina Seidl (University Linz)

14:00–15:30
Panel III: Sub-Symbolic AI – What It Can and Cannot Do

Moderator: Claudia Plant (University of Vienna)
Speaker: Sepp Hochreiter (University Linz)
Panel: Francesco Ricci (University Bolzano), Axel Polleres (WU Wien)

16:00–17:30
Panel IV: Symbolic and Sub-Symbolic AI – Co-exist or Combine?

Moderator: Hans Akkermans (UDS, Tamale, Ghana)
Speaker: Frank van Harmelen (VU Amsterdam)
Panel: Brigitte Krenn (ÖFAI), Gerhard Friedrich (University Klagenfurt)

Friday, 29 November

9:00–10:30
Panel I: A New Paradigm – A New Computer Science?

Moderator: Helga Nowotny (Former President ERC)
Speaker: Moshe Vardi (Rice University)
Panel: Peter Reichl (University of Vienna), Viola Schiaffonati (Politecnico Milan)

11:00–12:30
Panel II: What Can Philosophy Tell Us?

Moderator: Ludger Hagedorn (IWM Vienna)
Speaker: Tim Crane (Central European University)
Panel: Erich Prem (Verein Digitaler Humanismus), Luc Steels (VU Brussels)

14:00–15:30
Panel III: The Impact on Scientific Research

Moderator: Stefan Woltran (TU Wien)
Speaker: Noshir Contractor (Northwestern University Chicago)
Panel: Georg Dorffner (Meduni Wien), Günter Klambauer (University Linz)

16:00–17:30
Panel IV: The Role of Universities in a Platform Dominated World

Moderator: Christiane Wendehorst (University of Vienna)
Speaker: Gerti Kappel (TU Wien)
Panel: Stefan Klein (University Münster), George Metakides (DEF)

A cooperation between the Institute for Human Sciences (IWM Vienna) and the TU Wien Informatics.

With the support of: Verein zur Förderung des Digitalen Humanismus, FWF Cluster-of-Excellence Bilateral AI, TU Wien Center for Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning, Austrian Ministry of Climate Action and Energy.