On 3-4 July, Vilnius University Faculty of Law hosted the international conference “Summer Symposium: Human-Centric AI: Ethics, Regulation, and Safety”, which was attended by more than 20 distinguished speakers from Italy, Poland, Latvia, Lithuania, Belgium, the United Kingdom, the United States of America and Japan. Experts shared topical insights on how law, ethics, and governance need to evolve with advances in artificial intelligence (AI).
The debate was moderated by Dr Aleksandra Klich, representing the Faculty of Law and Administration of the University of Szczecin and the VU Law Faculty, together with Ieva Andrijauskaitė, a student of the VU Law Faculty.
Over the course of two intensive days, the conference featured more than 20 presentations highlighting the multifaceted aspects of human rights, ethics, and legal regulation in the context of AI. In the first session, speakers focused on the application of AI in employment law, biometric surveillance, justice, and governance. Prof. Monika Latos-Miłkowska from Kozminski University (Poland) discussed the protection of workers’ fundamental rights against the threats posed by AI, while Giulia Formici from the University of Parma (Italy) analysed the legal challenges of biometric surveillance in the context of the European Union.
Speakers from Japan and the USA also provided interesting perspectives: Prof. Kuan-Wei Chen discussed the involvement of Japanese and Taiwanese citizens in the regulation of AI, while Gal Forer (University of California, Berkeley) compared the regulation of generative AI in China and California. Goda Strikaitė-Latušinskaja, a PhD student at VU Law Faculty, addressed the issue of the application of Ai in judicial decision-making, highlighting the challenges of justice and fairness.
The second session covered topics ranging from medical law to data protection and creativity. Dr Mirko Faccioli from the University of Verona spoke about the use of AI in medical practice and civil liability, while Nanuli Khechikashvili (University of Glasgow) delved into privacy and data protection issues in the AI era. Madison Mohns (University of Cambridge) shared insights on the value of outlier approaches in the context of AI development.
The second day of the conference focused on the preservation of democracy, human dignity and freedom in the era of AI. Presentations ranged from electoral manipulation (Julia Terjuhana, University of Latvia) to the legal assessment of AI dependency (Davide Clementi, University of Macerata). Inessa Stolper from the European Humanities University analysed the potential of AI applications and threats to the justice system.
The conference was organised by the research group “Digital technologies, cyber security and law” of the VU Law Faculty, which brings together experts researching the impact of modern technologies on the law and society: Prof. Habil Dr Vytautas Nekrošius, Dr Neringa Gaubienė, Dr Kristina Pranevičienė, PhD Lina Dzindzelėtaitė-Šaltė.
