Recap of 'Gen Z: a glimpse in our future'

Should we punish people for crimes they commit in a VR world? Will ChatGPT force us to change our education system? How will Generation Z cope with the changes that rapid AI innovation will bring? These topics, and many more, were discussed at the Gen Z: A Glimpse in our Future event.

The event aimed to connect the generation of digital natives (Gen Z) with each other, and with others. AI researchers from this generation (1997-2012) shared their perspectives on the social impact, interdisciplinarity and internationalisation in the future with AI with the audience through various presentations and a panel discussion.

One of the presentations was given by our own ELSA Living Lab Learning for the Future and focused on how personality can influence academic performance and how AI could potentially be used to help students match their study chose to their personality. Between presentations, attendees were treated to a coffee/tea break with AI cookies (generated by a recipe from ChatGPT) and interactive AI music from the Soundlab.

The organisation of the event started by Dorien Wellen and Eefje Mittendorff and consisted of a collaboration between the Dutch AI Coalition, Innovation Center for Artificial Intelligence (ICAI), the Living Lab Learning for the Future and student collective Ethically Responsible Innovation Student Collective (ERISC)*. ERISC is an interdisciplinary student collective for the ethical, legal and societal implications of innovation & AI. During the event, ERISC provided a presentation on ethically responsible innovations.

The organisation looks back on a successful event, which included interesting discussions on the impact of AI on Generation Z and the other way around.

*Dorien, as a Professional Skills (AI) lecturer, founded the student collective ERISC together with Spence van Asperdt and Suus Pechtold. ERISC is an example of a spin-out of educational innovation within the faculty.