Tag: AIF 2026

Round Table: Studies, Work, and a Return to Learning: New Life Pathways

Georgios Koulaouzidis, Associate Professor of Adult Education, School of Humanities, Hellenic Open University

Georgia Pateridou, Associate Professor of Modern Greek Philology, School of Humanities, Hellenic Open University

Maria Martzoukou, Assistant Professor of Language Development, School of Humanities, Hellenic Open University

Is Artificial Intelligence an Independent Science? Implications for Higher Education
Ioannis Pitas

Artificial Intelligence is rapidly evolving into an autonomous scientific field, with strong interdisciplinary links to Computer Science, Neuroscience, Psychology, Linguistics, and Engineering. The global rise of undergraduate AI programmes demonstrates that traditional Computer Science and Electrical Engineering curricula can no longer fully accommodate its scope.

The lecture examines how the digitisation and mathematization of knowledge are transforming all academic disciplines and creating the need for a fundamental redesign of education. It argues for broader access to quality AI education, the cultivation of critical and algorithmic thinking, and the establishment of new academic structures, such as Schools of Information Science and Engineering. Particular emphasis is placed on the impact of AI on Higher Education, the Humanities, Law, Health Sciences, and the need for human-centred technologies informed by Ethics, Sociology, and Psychology.

Applications of Artificial Intelligence in Culture and Health
Sotiris Goudos

This lecture presents two research-based applications of Artificial Intelligence developed at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, highlighting AI’s growing role in culture and health sciences.

The first application concerns the use of Convolutional Neural Networks for the recognition of Byzantine hymns, a complex task due to the distinctive musical and acoustic characteristics of the Greek Orthodox tradition. The second focuses on the use of AI and Computer Vision in Assisted Reproduction, through the development of software designed to identify the most viable embryo and support successful pregnancy outcomes.

Artificial Intelligence in Materials Science
Prof. Joseph Kioseoglou

Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning are transforming materials science by accelerating property prediction, optimization, and the design of new materials. Modern approaches, including deep learning, graph neural networks, generative models, and autonomous experimentation platforms, enable researchers to analyse large datasets, propose new crystal structures, and guide materials discovery more efficiently.

The lecture outlines the main AI methods used across the materials pipeline, from data extraction and property prediction to inverse design and automated experimentation. It also addresses key challenges, including biased datasets, limited transferability, interpretability, physical consistency, and the need for reliable benchmarking and data provenance.

Moderator Panos Patsalas 

We stand at a historical inflection point where science and technology can no longer be separated from society. Yet, despite decades of discourse on “digital transformation,” the essence of transformation, endogenous change, has not been realized. This talk introduces DIGITALOGY as a new philosophical and practical framework for redefining civilization itself. Drawing from a lineage of thought, from Socrates and Jesus to Aristotle and Schumpeter, this work repositions innovation not as a tool for the state or capital, but as a process centered on human dignity and collective intelligence. Rather than superficial evolution or growth, DIGITALOGY emphasizes true transformation, a restructuring of internal consciousness and external systems simultaneously. This requires a shift in education, a reinvention of cities as living smart civilizations, and the construction of a new global order beyond existing institutional limitations. Organized into four “diamond” dimensions, AI Transformation, Smart Civilization and Smart City, Open Innovation, and Digital UN, this keynote proposes a practical pathway toward a new civilization, grounded not in abstraction, but in action.
The question is no longer whether transformation is possible. The question is who will choose to participate in building it.

Moderator: Ioannis Salmatzidis

In an era in which Artificial Intelligence changes everything around us in the economy, cybersecurity, on which the robust development and infrastructure of societies depends, is increasingly in dispute. What has Artificial Intelligence changed and there is a rapid increase in the frequency, intensity and risk of cyberattacks on services and infrastructure? Can Artificial Intelligence, on the other hand, provide improved cybersecurity capabilities to more effectively address the new threats or its use expands the range of threats that we must counter today?
The panel will host prominent researchers and engineers from Google, Aristotle University, as well as from cybersecurity companies operating in Greece, who will address the latest developments, the new tools and capabilities and the AI-cybersecurity skills required by the professionals in the near future. The discussion will close with the role of AI & cybersecurity education and training towards bridging the gap between the demand and supply of skills in the job market and how the recent Google.org <http://google.org/> Cybersecurity Seminars program, offered in Greece by Aristotle University, addresses this challenge.