2nd edition of “A Journey Through Artificial Intelligence” lecture series
Arqus
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20 May 2025
The Arqus Artificial Intelligence and Digital Transformation (AI&DT) Living Lab is launching the second edition of the A Journey Through Artificial Intelligence (JAI) lecture series
The JAI webinars aim at explaining artificial intelligence to the general public in a simple way. They are designed for a non-expert audience to break down complex AI concepts and make them accessible to everyone.
These sessions, held both online and in-person, aim to build AI literacy and promote informed societal discourse. The AI&DT Living Lab organises accessible, non-technical lectures to demystify AI concepts for a broad audience, ensuring that people from all backgrounds can gain insights into its principles, challenges, and potential. Topics range from the historical development of AI to its ethical challenges, practical applications in education, and value alignment.
The upcoming JAI lectures are:
Session 1: What is hidden in the Black-box? Explainable Artificial Intelligence
Abstract
Although Artificial Intelligence is tackling an increasing number of tasks and becoming increasingly effective, human understanding of these models, and therefore trust, remains limited.
In this talk, Klaudia Balcer will present how XAI helps to create good quality and explainable models through successive stages of a data science project, focusing on model development and post-hoc explanations. Topics from classical game theory, such as SHAP, and gradient-based methods, such as GradCAM, to modern techniques of explaining models for temporal data or graph neural networks, such as GNNExplainer, will be covered. Klaudia Balcer will discuss the usefulness of these methods from the perspective of the developer, manager, as well as end user, and in various domains, such as medicine, finance, or e-commerce.
Lecturer
Klaudia Balcer is a research and teaching assistant at the Computational Intelligence Research Group (since 2024) at the Institute of Computer Science and a PhD student at the Doctoral School of the University of Wrocław (since 2023). Her research interests focus on methods combining deep and stochastic learning in the context of recommender systems. She is a coauthor of a few research papers, including considering an extension of the Gaussian Hidden Markov Model with embedded hidden states (ICONIP 2023) and explaining Session-based Recommender Systems with Grammatical Evolution (GECCO 2024). She is also active in academic teaching, conference talks, commercial and research projects, as well as international scientific collaboration.
Session 2: Artificial Intelligence and creativity in music
Date: 12 June 2025
Time: 14:00 (CEST)
Format: Hybrid. Online: link sent prior to the lecture. In-person: University of Lyon 1, Room 104, building Quai 43 on the Doua Campus.
Abstract
In music, the term artificial intelligence might seem to evoke only the automatic generation of music by a computer. But what is really behind this concept?
How does the scientific community of computer music understand the issue of AI in music? And can we not see these new techniques as a springboard for artistic creativity? In this talk, we will use concrete examples to show you how AI works in music. In particular, we will cover two different tasks: automatic musical transcription (sheet music reading) and timbre transfer (controlling one virtual instrument with another).
Lecturer
Jérémy Cohen is a research fellow at the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS). He works since 2022 at the CREATIS laboratory in Villeurbanne (France). Using applied mathematics, he studies source separation problems for various applications in medical imaging, remote sensing and computer music. He completed his thesis in 2016 in Grenoble at Gipsa-lab and joined IRISA in Rennes in 2018 after two years of research at the University of Mons in Belgium. He is also an elected member of the national scientific research committee of the Institut Sciences Informatiques.
Session 3: Artificial Intelligence and Cybersecurity
Abstract
This talk aims to raise awareness about key cybersecurity challenges and the role of artificial intelligence (AI). Through simple examples, we will explore how AI is both a powerful tool for defending systems and a new threat vector, especially with AI-generated phishing and fake websites. The goal is to spark curiosity and highlight the importance of staying informed in an evolving threat landscape.
Lecturer
Mohamed-Lamine Messai is an associate professor at Lumière University Lyon 2 and a member of the SID research team at the ERIC laboratory (University of Lyon 1 & University of Lyon 2). He holds a PhD in computer science and conducts research in cybersecurity, focusing on secure data collection, key management in resource-constrained networks like IoT, and graph-based data analytics for threat detection.
Session 4: Introduction to Large Language Models and ChatBots
Date: 26 June 2025
Time: 15:00 (CEST)
Format: Hybrid. Online: link sent prior to the lecture. In-person: University of Padua (Archivio Antico – Palazzo Bo).
Abstract
This lecture will introduce chatBots: artificial intelligence tools that answer user questions and can also generate creative content upon request. The basic concepts underlying the operation of modern chatBots will be described. Additionally, some practical examples of chatbot usage and prompting techniques will be presented. The lecture is aimed at a general audience and it is very informal, no specific knowledge of computer science is required.
Lecturer
Giorgio Satta received a Ph.D. in Computer Science in 1990 from the University of Padua, Italy. He has been a post-doctoral fellow at the Institute for Research in Cognitive Science, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia PA, and he is currently a full professor at the Department of Information Engineering, University of Padua. Professor Giorgio Satta main research interests are in artificial intelligence and natural language processing. He has published 1 international book and more than 160 articles/papers in international journals, conferences and workshops with peer review. Giorgio Satta has served as chair of the European Chapter of the Association for Computational Linguistics (EACL) for years 2009-10.
Session 5: Responsible AI: Shaping a better tomorrow
Date: 26 June 2025
Time: 15:45 (CEST)
Format: Hybrid. Online: link sent prior to the lecture. In-person: University of Padua (Archivio Antico – Palazzo Bo).
Abstract
How can we harness the power of generative AI to create a more equitable world? This lecture will explore the double-edged sword of rapidly evolving generative AI technology, examining both its promising opportunities and potential pitfalls. Through a series of engaging case studies, we will dive into critical issues surrounding generative AI, including: the perpetuation of stereotypes, misrepresentation of individuals and groups, the generation of dangerous or offensive content. Moving beyond these challenges, the discussion will centre on strategies to leverage this powerful technology for social and environmental good.
Lecturer
Antonio Rodà is an Associate Professor at the University of Padua. His research interests include: a) biases in AI applications, b) serious games to improve Quality of Life, and c) ICT for Cultural Heritage. He is the author of more than 150 articles in national and international journals and peer-reviewed conferences. He currently teaches the course ‘Gender Knowledge and Ethics in Artificial Intelligence’.
The first edition of the A Journey Through Artificial Intelligence (JAI) lecture series was a major success, bringing together experts, students, researchers, and professionals, and stakeholders to explore key AI topics. It engaged over 280 participants.
Read more about the Arqus AI&DT Living Lab here. Watch the 1st edition JAI webinars here.
Article updated on 10 June.
