The Italian Institute of Culture in New York is pleased to announce that on Tuesday 22 September the first of the four AI4Progress conferences will take place, a new series of public conversations on artificial intelligence by Luciano Floridi, Director of the Digital Ethics Center of Yale University. Organized jointly by the Digital Ethics Center in Yale and the Italian Cultural Institute in New York, the series will take place from September to November 2026.
With the title “Education: Artificial Intelligence in the Classroom” the first conference focuses on one of today’s most controversial issues: artificial intelligence and education. Teachers and students can benefit from artificial intelligence, or should their use in class be limited or even prohibited? What does it mean to speak today of responsible use of artificial intelligence in education when theory meets the reality of the class? With a discussion that will go beyond theoretical issues to explore the practical realities of AI in education, the two experts of the evening Julia Stoyanovich and Pietro Agasi will address the question of how teachers actually use these tools; in what contexts they turn out to be effective and where, instead, they show their limits; what happens when technology comes out from the scope of research to enter a real class, with students in flesh and bone.
Artificial intelligence involves risks — some of which are serious — that this initiative does not intend to minimize. However, history has shown that technological innovation cannot simply be stopped. The most useful question, therefore, is not whether to govern this technology, but how to do it: how to direct it towards human progress instead of letting it free to undermine it.
It is to this question that AI4Progress intends to answer. Each of the four evenings compares two speakers with distinct perspectives and sometimes contrasting in a conversation designed to be at the same time rigorous, lively and accessible to a non-expert audience. Each couple of guests has been chosen not because they bear a shared position, but because in disagreement. The goal is not consensus, but clarity: to shed light on real stakes, authentic tensions and concrete choices that artificial intelligence today poses in front of society.
The four conversations will face each a different area in which AI is already redesigning the panorama: after that on education, they will follow health (13 October, 18 hours), environment (28 October, 18 hours) and business (9 November 18 hours)
Each evening follows the same structure: Luciano Floridi will open with an introduction of fifteen minutes to frame the theme. The two guest speakers will then conduct a moderate discussion of thirty minutes, led by the director of the Claudio Pagliara Institute. The evening will close with fifteen minutes of questions from the audience, with all four protagonists on stage.
Le quattro conversazioni
Educazione
Tuesday 22 September at 18.00
Julia Stoyanovich — Associate Institute Professor of Computer Science and Engineering, NYU Tandon; Associate Professor of Data Science, NYU Center for Data Science; Director of the Center for Responsible AI. Its declared mission is public literacy on AI. He was a member of the NYC Automated Decision Systems Task Force.
Pietro Agasi — Founder and CEO of Minerva Education AI, Turin. Minerva is an IA platform built specifically for Italian school — ministerial norms, national curriculum, system structure — and not a generic assistant translated into Italian. Thousands of teachers use it; the company was born listening to them and is currently in the B4i acceleration program of Bocconi University.
Salute
Monday 13 October at 18.00
Deborah Estrin — Robert V. Tishman ’37 Professor of Computer Science and Associate Dean for Impact, Cornell Tech; Affiliate Professor Weill Cornell Medicine; founder of the Public Interest Technology Initiative (PiTech).
Riccardo Lattanzi — Professor of Radiology, Electrical Engineering and Informatics, and Biomedical Engineering, NYU Grossman School of Medicine; Director of Bernard and Irene Schwartz Center for Biomedical Imaging, NYU Langone Health.
Ambiente
Wednesday 29 October at 18.00
Viviana Acquaviva — Professor of Physics, CUNY New York City College of Technology and CUNY Graduate Center; Adjunct Senior Research Scientist in Geochemistry, Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory. Machine Learning for Physics and Astronomy (Princeton University Press); included among the 50 most important Italian women in the tech industry by InspiringFifty in 2019.
Marco Tedeschi — Lamont Research Professor at Columbia University; scientific journalist for La Repubblica since 2016; among the main experts of the intersection between IA, climate and society.
Impresa
Sunday 9 November at 18.00
Manuela Veloso — Founder and head of JPMorganChase AI research (2018–2026); Herbert A. Simon University Professor Emerita, Carnegie Mellon University; member of the National Academy of Engineering, elected for AI applications to robotics and financial services; past President of AAI.
Marco Camisani Calzolari — Digital Divulgator and Artificial Intelligence; contracted university professor; member of the Committee of the Presidency of the Council of Ministers for the definition of the National Strategy for AI 2026–28; expert of the Department for Digital Transformation; Knight of the Order of the Star of Italy.
Luciano Floridi is Director of the Digital Ethics Center of Yale University and one of the world’s leading philosophers of information and digital ethics. His work influenced international policy debates on AI governance, privacy and ethical design of technology. As curator of AI4Progress, he brings intellectual rigour and vocation for public dialogue, ensuring that these conversations are equally relevant to the specialists and the public present.
Every evening will take place at the Italian Institute of Culture, 686 Park Avenue, New York, 10065. The entrance is free. Registration is required at www.iicnewyork.esteri.it
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