29.5. – 2.6.2024, Cres, Croatia
Erhard Busek Memorial Lecture
Thursday, 30 May 2024
Democratic Innovation and Citizens’ Assemblies in the Landscape of Geopolitical Instability
Europe’s Futures Annual Symposium 2024 Cres, Croatia Friday, 31 May 2024 Panel: The Democratic Function of the University in a World of ‘AI Everywhere’
Panelists: Sanja Bojanić, Luke Cooper
Moderator and Panelist: Bernd Marin
The institution of the University is fundamental to liberal democracy in two ways: providing the education of good citizens and the evidence for good policy-making. Through education and evidence, the University enables the governed to hold the exercise of power in check, such as through alert political participation, rigorous accountability, civic imagination and independence of thought. These qualities are essential to the protection of civil liberty.
We are increasingly enmeshed in a world of ‘AI everywhere’; few sectors, institutions or professions are unaffected by Artificial Intelligence and they are becoming increasingly dependent on it. The effective substitution of Artificial Intelligence for human intelligence potentially poses a threat to democracy. This session considers what is imminent with respect to the AI challenge to the University’s democratic function, and what might be done to protect it. It argues that because AI lacks the capacity for judgement, the human capacity for discernment is potentially redemptive.
Europe’s Futures is a partnership initiative of the IWM and ERSTE Foundation. In a rapidly changing global environment it aims to understand and address the challenges confronting Europe and the European Union.
At the Europe’s Futures Annual Symposium 2024, the sixth cohort of Europe’s Futures Fellows presented the conclusions of their research in the academic year 2023/24. The findings were discussed with the Europe’s Futures Alumni Network and researchers from the University of Rijeka Center for Advanced Studies Southeast Europe. In cooperation with University of Rijeka Center for Advanced Studies Southeast Europe (UNIRI CAS SEE).
