What Comes After GenAI? Exploring the Limits of One-Size-Fits-All AI for Democracy and Knowledge
February 7-8, 2025, Prague University of Economics and
Business, Faculty of Economics, nam. W. Churchilla 1938/4, Praha 3, Czechia.
Register please here (registration is free).
Friday, February 7, 2025, room RB209
09:30 – 10:00 Registration and Welcome Coffee
10:00 – 10:15 Opening Remarks – Workshop Organisers
Thematic Block 1 – LLMs, Literacy, and Epistemic Democratization
10:15 – 10:40 “Generative AI: Methods and Literacy” – Alina Mierlus (Autonomous University of Barcelona)
10:40 – 11:05 “Epistocratic Democracy and the Role of Generative AI in Improving Democratic Decisions” – Steven Gouveia (University of Porto)
11:05 – 11:45 Q&A and Discussion
11:45 – 13:00 Lunch Break
Thematic Block 2 – AI, Agency, and the Ethics of Influence
13:00 – 13:25 “From Polarization to Perspective: Harnessing Conversational AI for an Epistemically Virtuous Info-Ecology” – John Dorsch (Czech Academy of Sciences)
13:25 – 13:50 “LLMs, Alignment, and Self-Deception” – Eric Funkhouser (University of Arkansas)
13:50 – 14:30 Q&A and Discussion
14:30 – 14:45 Coffee Break
Thematic Block 3 – Capabilities, Flourishing, and Societal Impacts
14:45 – 15:10 “Empathetic LLMs, Social Capacities, and Human Flourishing” – Leora Sung (Technion—Israel Institute of Technology)
15:10 – 15:35 “Capabilities Approach as an Ethical Framework for Evaluating AI: Individuals, Inhibiting Environments, and Deliberative Democracy” – Paula Gürtler (CETE-P)
15:35 – 16:00 “Are we ready? A philosophical insight into the impact of LLM-equipped AI agents on society” – Miroslav Vacura (Prague University of Economics and Business)
16:00 – 16:15 Q&A and Discussion
16:15 – 16:30 Coffee Break
16:30 – 17:30 Keynote Address 1 – “Shifting perspective on AI for democratic society: convenience, misinformation and the struggle for planetary health” – Sabina Leonelli (Technische Universität München)
19:00 Conference Dinner – Restaurant Lavicka
Saturday, February 8, 2025, room RB209
10:00 – 11:00 – Keynote Address 2 – “Beyond Good and After Evil: The Ethical Challenge of Benevolent AI Manipulation” – Michael Klenk (Delft University of Technology)
11:00 – 11:15 Coffee Break
Thematic Block 4 – Future of AI: Philosophical and Practical Considerations
11:15 – 11:40 “LLM Models for Philosophy: What May We Expect” – Roman Krzanowski (The Pontifical University of John Paul II)
11:40 – 12:05 “Democratizing AI at Work: A Post-Workerist Approach” Tim Christiaens (Tilburg University)
12:05 – 12:30 “AI Oracles: Technological Re-Enchantment of the World” Petr Špecián and Lucy Císař Brown (Charles University)
12:30 – 12:45 Q&A and Discussion
12:45 – 13:00 Closing Remarks – Conference Organisers
13:00 – 14:00 Farewell Lunch
Organizers: Miroslav Vacura (Prague University of Economics and Business), Eugenia Stamboliev (University of Vienna), Petr Špecián (Charles University and Prague University of Economics and Business)
Contact: For any queries, please email llm4dem@vse.cz.