Agenda

06 Sep 2025 09:00

Artificial Intelligence and Human Consciousness

Biennale Venice

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE AND HUMAN CONSCIOUSNESS
6 Sept 
Biennale Venice - Corderie (Arsenale building) - Campo de la Tana Venezia
An art-science installation and symposium will take place in the context of the Biennale in Venice, 2025. The event is free but you need an entrance ticket to the Biennale. There is also an additional exhibit and a workshop on Communicating about Awareness in Artificial Agents to be held on 7 and 8 september 2025 on San Servolo island.
Exhibition AM I A STRANGE LOOP? AI-powered robotic Installation by Takashi Ikegami and Luc Steels at the Biennale's curator exhibition Corderie, Arsenale. On view from 11 to 20
The installation is based on the Android Alter3 built by the team of Takashi Ikegami at the University of Tokyo and enhanced with various AI capabilities, including a Large Language Model to support open-ended dialog in multiple languages. Visitors have great fun going into dialog with the robot about anything from practical questions to deep philosophical discussions.

Symposium WILL THE AI-POWERED ROBOTS OF THE FUTURE BE SELF-AWARE?
6 Sept. 13:30-17
Arsenale - Speaker's Corner | Organizer: Luc Steels
In the near future, AI-powered humanoid robots may co-exist with us. This symposium is part of the GENS public program of the Biennale and held to discuss the inner workings of the Alter3 experiment and the deeper implications for AI, neuroscience, and the phenomenology of consciousness.

Extra-exhibition N-ODES. San Servolo Island 
7 Sept 4 - 9 pm Launch & Aperitivo
Sabine Hauert and team, Swarm Engineering, University of Bristol.
https://hauertlab.com/sabine-hauert/
N-Odes is an interactive sound and light installation that invites audiences into a shared dialogue with a swarm of intelligent orbs. Each orb responds to movement, expressing its orientation through shifting patterns of light and sound. As visitors engage -spinning, tilting, or synchronising their actions - the orbs react both individually and collectively, communicating with one another to reflect the emerging harmony or dissonance within the group. Suspended overhead, a large canopy of orbs dynamically interacts with and shapes the collective audio-visual experience. Powered by evolutionary algorithms, the system generates an immersive, continuously evolving experience shaped by the dynamic interplay between the participant and artificial entities.

Workshop on the Communication of the Science of AI San Servolo Island
8 Sept. 9:30 - 17 
Registration is required link
This workshop on science communication of awareness brings together experts in philosophy, art, AI and robotics, along with experts in science communication and the public to brainstorm how we can communicate complex topics such as awareness in natural and artificial agents through art, play, and narratives. We expect the workshop will be exciting for early-career researchers (MSCs, PhD students and Postdocs) as well as experts in science communication and the public interested in art and AI awareness.
These initiatives are part of the portfolio activities of the EIC 'Awareness Inside' program of the EU Commission, specifically through the VALAWAI and EMERGE projects.

Organized by

VALAWAI and EMERGE project

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