About 150 scientists, from 20 countries will debate, from 5 to 8 September, on the island of Faial, in the Azores, the present and future of Artificial Intelligence (AI).

“It is with great pride that I see the island where I was born to become an epicenter of the interdisciplinary debate on the future of artificial intelligence, an area to which I have dedicated my research”, said Nuno Moniz, a native of Faial, professor at the University of Notre Dame (Indiana, USA) and responsible for the event.

This Portuguese conference on AI, now in its 22nd edition, is organized by APPIA (Portuguese Association for Artificial Intelligence) and includes 17 different discussion panels on topics ranging from ethics and responsibility in the development of artificial intelligence to its application in the arts and creativity.

“The potential of artificial intelligence is immense, and it is precisely its application, in the most diverse areas, that could bring important innovations, with the potential to help solve urgent problems of society, such as, for example, the sustainability of our seas”, Moniz said.

The scientists who will participate in this meeting intend to analyze the use of artificial intelligence in new areas of activity, such as medicine, law, agriculture, fisheries, tourism, marine research, energy and transport, as well as in other fields. of collective life.

“Considering the impact that artificial intelligence has and will continue to have on people’s lives, the organization of the conference provided a public session in the program, open to the whole society,”, said Moniz adding that the session at the João José da Graça Public Library and Regional Archive, in the city of Horta.

Gui Menezes, director of the OKEANOS Research Institute, linked to the University of the Azores, and who is also part of the organization of the conference, stresses that the study of the oceans requires, more and more, a multidisciplinary approach, requiring the use of increasingly sophisticated analytical, storage and data processing tools and this poses immense challenges.

This is the second time that the Azores archipelago hosts the Portuguese conference on artificial intelligence, after Angra do Heroísmo, on Terceira Island, also hosted a previous edition of this event, launched 10 years ago.

The event has the support of the Regional Government, the Legislative Assembly of the Azores, the Municipality of Horta and the Foundation for Science and Technology.

PAJ/Staff with LUSA

The Azores  (population 250,000) is a region of Portugal composed of nine islands. The archipelago discovered by Portuguese explorers in the 15th century, became an Autonomous Region of Portugal in 1976. The government of the Autonomous Region of the Azores includes the Legislative Assembly, composed of 57 elected deputies, elected by universal suffrage for a four-year term; the Regional Government and Presidency, with parliamentary legitimacy, composed of a President, a Vice-President and seven Regional Secretaries responsible for the Regional Government executive operations. The Autonomous Region of the Azores is represented in the Council of Ministers of the Central Government by a representative appointed by the President of Portugal. According to the latest US census over 1.3 million individuals of Portuguese descent live in the United States, the majority with roots in the Azores. It is estimated that over 20,000 US citizens live in Portugal.