The 3rd Conference of UB Research Institutes addresses scientific and social challenges of artificial intelligence

The aim of the 3^rd Conference of UB research institutes, under the title “Inteligencia artificial (IA): Investigación y sociedad” (Artificial Intelligence: Research and Society) is to address the scientific impact and potential of AI in different areas of science. The conference will take place on 13 February, in the Aula Magna at the UB’s Historic Building, from 9.00 a.m. to 1.30 p.m. This session will be live-streamed on UBtv. In the afternoon, sessions will continue after 4.00 p.m., in the Auditorium of the Barcelona Centre of Contemporary Culture (CCCB).

The conference will be opened by the Rector, Joan Guàrdia, in a ceremony with the participation of Professor Manel Sanromà, president of CIVICAi, and Professor Meritxell Simó, director of the UB’s Institute for Research on Medieval Cultures (IRCVM).

Artificial intelligence: from biodiversity to cosmology  

This meeting is a great space for exploring the current trends and findings in the field of AI. Besides promoting a cross-disciplinary debate and reflection on AI, the forum allows participants to find innovative projects led by UB-specific research institutes that apply this discipline to face complex challenges in research, thus generate significant advances for society.  

Xavier Jarque, director of the UB’s Institute of Mathematics (IMUB), will chair the session with the participation of Antigoni Kaliontzopoulou, from the UB’s Biodiversity Research Institute (IRBio), with the lecture “Lagartijas, tortugas y plantas en la lupa de la IA: aprendizaje automático en el estudio de la biodiversidad” (Lizards, turtles and plants under AI’s eye: automatic learning in the study of biodiversity). Josep Francesc Abril, from the Institute of Biomedicine (IBUB), will focus on “Deus ex machina: Inteligencia Artificial y Biología Computacional”; Sandra Acosta, from the Institute of Neurosciences (UBneuro), will give the lecture “Variability vs Phenotype in brain organoids: AI is the question”; Raúl Jiménez, from the Institute of Cosmos Sciences (ICCUB), will talk about “Cosmología sin modelos: IA para entender el cosmos y las leyes de la Naturaleza”, and Jordi Vitrià, from IMUB, will give the lecture “IA – de la teoría a la prática”.

Education, archaeology and civil responsibility

The session chaired by Maria Pau Sandín, director of the Research Institute on Education (IRE-UB), will include the participation of Albert Bruix, from the Institute of Theoretical and Computational Chemistry (IQTCUB), who will give the lecture “Data Science y Machine Learning: una nueva era para la química computacional» and Dimitri Marinelli, from the Research Institute of Complex Systems (UBICS), who will talk about «AI from and for complex systems».

Cristina Galván, from IRE-UB, will give the lecture “Educación e inteligencia artificial: un diálogo inspirado por Durkheim», and Xavier Rubio, from the UB’s Institute of Archaeology (IAUB) will give “Estableciendo lazos entre pasado y futuro: usos de la IA en la investigación arqueológica”. The researchers Filippo Contesi and Patrick Connolly, from the Barcelona Institute of Analytical Philosophy (BIAP), are the authors of the lecture “The Ethics and Aesthetics of Writing in the Age of AI».

Sònia Estradé, from the Institute of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology (IN2UB), will talk about “AI for nanoscale spectroscopies”, and Joan Calzada, from the Barcelona Economics Analysis Team (BEAT), will comment on “¿Quién elige lo que leemos? Algoritmos para recomendar noticias”. The first part of the conference will be closed by Eva Andrés Aucejo and Mónica Navarro-Michel, from the TransJus Research Institute, who will give the lecture “Implicaciones jurídicas de la inteligencia artificial: regulación global, derechos de autor y responsabilidad civil”. The rector’s delegate for research institutes, Mercè Pallàs, eill close the morning session of the conference.

Visit the CCCB exhibition

In the afternoon, the vice-rector for Research, Jordi Garcia-Fernández, and the director of ICCUB, Xavier Luri, together with a CCCB representative, will present the last session at the Auditorium of the CCCB. It will be brought by Ana Ana López-Mancisidor, who Will give the lecture “Aplicaciones científicas de la IA generativa en Google”, and a visit to the exhibition “IA: Inteligencia Artificial”, in this cultural and exhibition space.

The 3^rd Conference of the UB Research Institutes is promoted by an organising committee made up of experts Miquel Àngel Arnedo, director of IRBio; Miguel Ángel Cau, director of IAUB; Albert Díaz-Guilera, director of UBICS; Xavier Jarque (IMUB); Antigoni Kaliontzopoulou; Xavier Luri (ICCUB); Maria Pau Sandín (IRE-UB); Marçal Pastor Anglada, director of IBUB, and Eliseo Ruiz, director of IQTC.