ATHENS – This year’s SNF Conference is taking place online due to the current global pandemic. It began on June 22 and continues on June 23 with Day Two of the Conference exploring the fascinating topic of Humanity & AI.

The opening discussion focuses on Cooperation, Collision, or Coevolution?, while the second asks, Can We Keep Humanity at the Center? The third discussion explores How Do Youth Perceive AI Ethics? and includes SNF Co-President Andreas Dracopoulos along with students Elize Dracopoulos and Ypatia Fafalios, as well as Francesca Rossi, AI Ethics Global Leader at IBM.

Dracopoulos will also give the closing remarks for the event which continues to offer fascinating insights into the world we live in.

For the past eight years, the SNF Conference has brought together some of the world's best thinkers, leaders, artists, iconoclasts and visionaries to explore critical questions regarding the future of humanity and society. Presented as a gift to the public by the Stavros Niarchos Foundation, the conference seeks to explore and deepen our collective understanding of fundamental issues and raise the level of democratic discourse.

Since 2016, the Conference has convened at the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center (SNFCC) in Athens, Greece. The SNFCC is an ambitious project to reimagine the essence of a truly public space in the twenty first century, and the Foundation's largest single gift to date.

In this time of pandemic and rapid technological change, such dialogue helps us understand what is happening around us, and the new choices ahead of us. And so, despite the pandemic's disruptions, on June 22nd and 23rd, a focused, virtual version of the SNF Conference, is being presented, open to all. (Though registration is required.)

Sessions are timed to allow participation in Europe and across the United States. The conference is part of the larger Summer Nostos Festival: RetroFuture Edition, convening online, June 21-28, 2020.

Tuesday June 23, 2020

Humanity & AI: Cooperation, Collision, or Coevolution?

Few tools, if any, promise to shape humanity as deeply and widely as artificial intelligence. In this sneak-peak at our 2021 SNF Conference, we will discuss the promise of AI and the many surprising ways it's shaping the future of society, the way we work and connect and our very idea of who we are.

with…

Blaise Aguera y ArcasDistinguished Scientist, Google

Azeem AzharFounder, Exponential View

Madeleine Clare ElishProgram Director, AI on the Ground Data & Society

Andrew ZolliVice President, Planet Inc., Forecaster and Author

Humanity & AI: Can We Keep Humanity at the Center?

How do we ensure that AI works for humanity and not against it? We'll explore how our values can and should shape the tools we make, how we can maintain the right kinds of controls, and how the conversation between technology and society is evolving.

with…

Stuart RussellProfessor of Computer Science, University of California Berkeley

Tristan HarrisCo-Founder & President, Center for Humane Technology

Tenzin PriyadarshiPresident and CEO, Dalai Lama Center for Ethics and Transformative Values, MIT

Sabelo MhlambiFounder, Bantucracy

Aarathi KrishnanHumanitarian Futures and Strategic Foresight Advisor

Special Discussion: Humanity & AI: How Do Youth Perceive AI Ethics?

The next generation will inherit a world transformed by artificial intelligence. In this special conversation, hear from two young people exploring the future they will shape and inhabit, and challenging the adults about the consequences of their current choices and decisions for future generations.

with…

Andreas DracopoulosCo-President, Stavros Niarchos Foundation

Elize DracopoulosStudent

Ypatia FafaliosStudent

Francesca RossiAI Ethics Global Leader, IBM

Closing Remarks

Andreas DracopoulosCo-President, Stavros Niarchos Foundation