Upcoming Events

Artificial Intelligence and Humanity

Cancelled
Intercultural Center Auditorium
Georgetown University

In collaboration with the Embassy of Italy and the Italian Cultural Institute of the Embassy, the Italian Research Institute of Georgetown College of Arts and Sciences is pleased to sponsor an event on “Artificial Intelligence and Humanity.” Prof. Viola Schiaffonati, the keynote speaker, will share her research on the subject and focus on the Al-related ethical and human risks. Prof. Nicoletta Pireddu, the director of the Georgetown University Humanities Initiative, will moderate and lead the discussion that will follow.

Speaker

Viola Schiaffonati
Associate Professor of
Logic & Philosophy of Science
Bioengineering of Milano, Italy

Viola Schiaffonati is an Associate Professor of Logic and Philosophy of Science at the Department of Electronics, Information, and Bioengineering of Politecnico di Milano (Italy). She holds a PhD. in Philosophy of Science and a master’s degree in Philosophy. She is an external faculty member of the Diplomatische Akademie in Vienna (Austria). She has been a visiting professor at TU Wien (2024), Università di Pisa (2019), and Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (2018). She has been a senior Digital Humanism Fellowa (2024), Ermete Fellow at the University of Stuttgart (2022), visiting scholar at TU Delft (2016), Stanford University (2005), at IWM in Vienna and University of California Berkeley (2000-2001).

Viola Schiaffonati’s research interests lie at the intersection of the philosophy of science and
technology and computer engineering. She is a philosopher of science by training and has
started her academic career in the field of the philosophy of Artificial Intelligence (Al). Her
current research moves in particular along the following directions: the ethical aspects of Al,
ML, robotics, and digital technologies; the investigation of the nature and role of experiments in
computer engineering; the role of simulations in robotics. She is the author of more than 100
publications in peer-reviewed venues and has been a keynote and invited speaker in more than
50 conferences, workshops, and outreach activities at international and national levels, and chair and co-chair several scientific panels, workshops, and conferences.

Viola Schiaffonati serves as the director of the National Laboratory of Informatics and Society of
the Italian National Consortium of Informatics, as a member of the steering board of the Forum
of Philosophy and Engineering (fPET), as the chair of the ethics working group of IDEA League (a
network of excellence of European technical universities) and as an elected member of the
steering committee of the Italian Association for Logic and Philosophy of Science. She is one of
the three founders of the group for the Social Sciences and Humanities for Science and
Technology at Politecnico di Milano, chair of the Research Ethics Board of Politecnico di Milano, and chair of the Committee of the Code of Ethics and Conduct of Politecnico di Milano. She
serves as Associate Editor of the Springer Journal of Science and Engineering Ethics. From 2021 to 2022, she was a member of the European Commission Expert Group on Artificial Intelligence and Data in Teaching and Learning, and she was the Directorate-General for Education, Youth, Sport and Culture.

At Politecnico di Milano, Viola Schiaffonati teaches courses at both the master level (Computer
Ethics, Philosophical Issues of Computer Science, Ethics Seminar, Power Systems: Ethical Issues
and Social Implications) and the doctoral one (Digital Humanism, Al between risk and
innovation, Empowering Imagination, Ethics of Technology). She is the author and the instructor
of two MOOCs: Ethics of IA, Integrity and Beyond.

In the last 5 years, Viola Schiaffonati supervised and co-supervised four doctoral students and 3
post-doc researchers. Moreover, she participated in several European and nationally funded
research projects as PI, WP, and task leader.

Abstract

Toward the New Sciences of the Artificial

Since the publication in 1969 of Herbert Simon’s seminal book The Sciences of the
Artificial, the question of the artificiality of our world has been raised and analyzed with
different approaches. The current acceleration in the design, deployment, and use of Al
systems calls for an urgent reconsidering of the realm of artificiality in light of the
peculiarities of these artificial systems and their increasing diffusion throughout the
fabric of society. In this talk, Viola Schiaffonati discusses the philosophical foundations
of this new and interdisciplinary field of study by considering the case of Al-related risks
and the need for new epistemological and ethical frameworks.