Event Recap: Artificial Intelligence: Hope vs. Hype – Bridging the Gap Between Reality and Potential
The Columbia Global Center Athens hosted a discussion on AI’s impact on employment, energy consumption, education, and intellectual property rights.
On January 16, 2025, the Columbia Global Center Athens, in collaboration with the National Center for Scientific Research "Demokritos," hosted an engaging panel discussion on Artificial Intelligence: Hope vs. Hype. Over 200 attendees gathered to explore AI’s current and possible realities, sharing thought-provoking questions AI’s impact on employment, energy consumption, education, and intellectual property rights.
Moderated by Marianna Skylakaki, Editor-in-Chief & CEO of athiNEA, the panel featured prominent experts: Dean Shih-Fu Chang (Columbia University), Christos Papadimitriou (Columbia University), Ion Androutsopoulos (Athens University of Economics and Business), Fereniki Panagopoulou (Panteion University), and Xenia Ziouvelou (Demokritos). They offered their insight into AI’s technical and ethical challenges, computational barriers, breakthroughs in natural language understanding, and the intersection of AI with law and democracy.
“People who were working on AI were considered dreamy romantics, like Don Quixotes, from the rest of the computer scientists” – Christos Papadimitriou, Columbia University
The General Secretary for Research and Innovation, Dr. Tasos Gaitanis, offered opening remarks, as did Stefanos Gandolfo, Director of the Columbia Global Center Athens, and George Nounesis, Director of Demokritos. Collectively, they highlighted the critical need for interdisciplinary collaboration to fully comprehend AI’s scope, its societal implications, and the steps required for responsible development and use.
A particularly engaging part of the event was the Q&A session, where attendees, including experts, students, and tech enthusiasts and skeptics, had the opportunity to engage with the panel on pressing questions about AI's impact on society.
“We have to change the way we teach and the way we evaluate, the way students work together in the classroom and also we need to change how we incorporate AI tools in the whole process” - Shih-Fu Chang, Columbia University
As the field continues to advance, the Columbia Global Center Athens remains committed to exploring these critical issues, providing a space for meaningful discussions that will guide the responsible development and use of AI in the years to come.