Keynote Speakers

Beyond the AI Hype: Balancing Innovation and Social Responsibility

Bio

Virginia Dignum is Professor of Responsible Artificial Intelligence at Umeå University, Sweden where she leads the AI Policy Lab. She is also senior advisor on AI policy to the Wallenberg Foundations. She has a PHD in Artificial Intelligence from Utrecht University in 2004, is member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences (IVA), and Fellow of the European Artificial Intelligence Association (EURAI). She is a member of the United Nations Advisory Body on AI, the Global Partnership on AI (GPAI), UNESCO’s expert group on the implementation of AI recommendations, OECD’s Expert group on AI, founder of ALLAI, the Dutch AI Alliance, and co-chair of the WEF’s Global Future Council on AI. She was a member of EU’s High Level Expert Group on Artificial Intelligence and leader of UNICEF’s guidance for AI and children. Her new book “The AI Paradox” is planned for publication in late 2024.

Prediction and Coordination in Conversational Human-Robot Interaction

Interacting with machines through spoken language as naturally and intuitively as we communicate with each other has long been a long-standing vision in both science fiction and research labs. Recent advancements in technology, particularly with large language models (LLMs), have brought us closer to realizing this vision, enabling open-ended conversations on a wide range of topics, and new applications for social robotics. However, current methods still fall short in capturing the intricate coordination mechanisms that characterize human interaction. The subtle cues of voice, gaze, and facial expressions — essential for the fluidity and naturalness of conversation — are often overlooked. These cues are crucial for allowing interlocutors to anticipate and synchronize their actions. In this talk, I will present our latest research on developing predictive models of human conversation that encompass key aspects such as turn-taking, gaze behavior, and backchanneling. By integrating these models, we aim to enable robots to engage in real-time coordination during conversations with humans, closely mirroring the dynamics of human interaction.

Bio

Gabriel Skantze is a Professor at KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm, Sweden, where he leads several research projects related to speech communication and human-robot interaction. His research is highly interdisciplinary, encompassing fields such as artificial intelligence, cognitive science, linguistics, and social sciences. He is the former President of SIGDIAL, the Association for Computational Linguistics’ special interest group on Discourse and Dialogue. In addition to his academic roles, he is the co-founder and Chief Scientist of Furhat Robotics, a social robotics company spun off from KTH 10 years ago.

Crossing boundaries: arts and technology of emotions

Art and science are often viewed as distant domains only loosely connected. In recent years we are now witnessing more interaction between the two. This has led to an increased awareness of how art and science are indeed two different but strongly coupled aspects of human creativity, both driving innovation as art influences science and technology, and as science and technology in turn inspire art. Recognizing this mutually beneficial relationship, the InfoMus-Casa Paganini research centre cultivates the intersection of scientific and technological research in human-centered computing where art and humanistic culture are a fundamental source of inspiration in a trans-disciplinary approach. In this presentation I discuss concrete examples on how our collaboration with artists informed our work on the automated analysis of nonverbal expressive and social behavior and interactive sonification, including recent results from the EU projects H2020 FET PROACTIVE EnTimeMent (entimement.dibris.unige.it), the EU Horizon Europe STARTS ICT resilence (resilence.eu), and the DanzArTe-Emotional Wellbeing Technology project on aesthetically resonant cultural welfare applications.

Bio

PhD in Computer Engineering, full professor at University of Genoa (DIBRIS, Polytechnic School), where he teaches Human Computer Interaction (MS Computer Engineering; MS Digital Humanities), founder and scientific director of InfoMus-Casa Paganini Research Centre at University of Genoa. His research combines human-computer interaction and affective computing with artistic and humanistic research: non-verbal multimodal interactive systems; automated analysis and interactive sonification of non-verbal full-body expressive gesture, emotion, and social signals in performing arts, active experience of cultural content, cultural welfare, therapy, and rehabilitation. Coordinator of European funded projects in FP5, FP7 and Horizon 2020 including H2020 ICT DANCE (dance.dibris.unige.it) and H2020 FET PROACTIVE EnTimeMent (entimement.dibris.unige.it). Currently is Principal Investigator in EU Horizon Europe ICT STARTS project ReSilence (resilence.eu). Principal Investigator in over 20 EU-funded projects, and in several contracts with industry and cultural institutions. Co-owner of patents on software systems.Member of the editorial boards of the Journal of New Music Research and of Plos One journal, of the ESF College of Expert Reviewers, member of the board of directors of Museo Palazzo Reale of Genoa, co-director of the Joint Research Laboratory ARIEL (Augmented Rehabilitation Lab) with Gaslini Children Hospital. Scientific collaborations in artistic projects include music theatre projects of Luciano Berio (Scala di Milano 1996; Salzburg Festival 1999) and dance and technology projects of the choreographer Virgilio Sieni. Coordinator for University of Genoa of 2004, 2005, and 2006 New York University Summer Program on Music, Dance, and New Technology. 

Affective interactions in real world applications

Bio

Nadia Bianchi-Berthouze is a Full Professor in Affective Computing and Interaction at the University College London Interaction Centre (UCLIC). Her research focuses on designing technology that can sense the affective state of its users and use that information to tailor the interaction process. She has pioneered the field of Affective Computing by investigating how body movement and touch behaviour can be used as means to recognize and measure the quality of the user experience. She also studied how full-body technology and body sensory feedback can be used to modulate people’s perception of themselves and of their capabilities to improve self-efficacy and coping capabilities. Her work has been motivated by real-world applications such as physical rehabilitation (EPSR Embodied Intelligence, EPSRC Emo&Pain, H2020 EnTiMeMent), textile design (EPSRC Digital Sensoria, EPSRC Textile Circularity Centre), education (H2020 WeDraw) and wellbeing (Intelligent Embodied Interaction, EPSRC; H2020 Human Manufacturing, EPSRC Embodied Intelligence). She has published more than 200 papers in Affective Computing, HCI, and Pattern Recognition.