Panel Description: 

Simon Rogerson aims for us to explore the dual-use potential of AI, which has huge implications for society, but this aspect seems to receive minimal attention from governments and industry.

This situation is fuelled by the AI HOB (Hype, Obsession and Bandwagon), which is cooking up trouble for us all. For example, the worldwide attention given to the launch of DeepSeek and the reaction by existing GenAI companies illustrate the hype and obsession surrounding AI, which is a technology growing at a meteoric pace. AI is a bandwagon which politicians and commercial organisations are keen to jump on. Their actions are reactive rather than proactive, driven by self-centred political and commercial agendas rather than social responsibility. In a digital age becoming increasingly dominated by AI, we must understand the causal relationships between bad/good practice and bad/good systems, then act with social responsibility. The panel members will discuss these issues and hopefully instill much discussion throughout the conference.

The proposed  panel structure covers 90 minutes:

• Simon Rogerson opening remarks (10 minutes)

• Kiyoshi Murata, Shalini Kesar, Xenia Ziouvelou, and António Duarte Santos opening statement each max of 5 minutes (20 minutes)

• Panel debate chaired by Simon Rogerson (30 minutes)

• Questions for the audience (20 minutes)

• Summing up (10 minutes)

Panel Description: As artificial intelligence becomes increasingly embedded in decision-making, infrastructure, and daily life, urgent questions arise about its long-term ethical and social impact. The rapid deployment of AI technologies—often outpacing the development of legal and moral frameworks—raises critical concerns. The implications of key technologies and sectors will be discussed with an interdisciplinary approach.

Keynote panelist:

Anne Gerdes (Denmark): Professor of Information Science and leader of the Center for AI Ethics at the University of Southern Denmark. She researches and teaches at the intersections of applied ethics and computer science. Her research focuses on IT ethics, AI ethics, AI Ethics by Design, robo-ethics, and privacy. Her current work explores ethical frameworks for AI in healthcare and participatory approaches to AI Ethics by Design. 

Martha Wilcoxson (USA):  Professor at Colorado State University Pueblo, whose current research explores the intersection of business ethics, corporate culture, and professional decision-making in the financial services industry. Her work emphasizes the development of practical ethics training models tailored to industry-specific challenges, with a focus on how financial professionals perceive and respond to ethical dilemmas. She is particularly interested in creating non-biased, peer-driven learning environments that foster moral reasoning, regulatory awareness, and cultural accountability. Through her applied research and course design, Martha Wilcoxson aims to enhance the ethical infrastructure within organizations by equipping professionals to navigate complex, real-world conflicts with clarity and integrity.

Adrian Dediu (Portugal): Associate Professor at the Autonoma University of Lisbon, focused on formal languages, automata theory, and computational models. His research advances theoretical computer science with applications in software verification and language processing. He actively publishes in automata theory and is involved in international collaborations in formal methods.

Ugo Pagallo (Italy): Professor of Jurisprudence at the University of Turin and a leading voice in AI and law. His work addresses the legal and ethical challenges of artificial intelligence, robotics, and data governance. He has served on the EU’s High-Level Expert Group on AI and advises institutions on digital regulation and algorithmic accountability.

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