— By the ACAIS SymCo

The Annual CognAC Artificial Intelligence Symposium is an event where AI research and breakthroughs can be celebrated. With a different theme each year, the symposium is an opportunity for AI students and general enthusiasts to spend a day in a dedicated educational environment where they can expand their net- work and knowledge. ACAIS is organized by the Symposium Committee of CognAC, consisting of artificial intelligence Radboud students from various years of study.

The 2022 edition of ACAIS had the ”EducAItion” —AI and education — theme. As organizing party, we wanted to have speakers of various backgrounds, from software developing companies, to academics exploring new methods and technologies for education. Our final lineup and their corresponding talks presented as such (the abstracts can be found at https://acais.svcognac.nl/):

  • Duuk Baten and Bryan Cardenas Guevara, Young Talent at SURF and Machine Learning Consultant at SURF, Get inspired, what could you do with artificial intelligence in education?
  • Dr. Joep van der Graaf, Postdoctoral Researcher, The Word Factory
  • Anne Horvers, PhD Candidate Junior Researcher at Behavioral Science Institute, W-ALT. From cold
    to warm technologies: the role of emotions during learning
  • Dr. George Kachergis, Research Scientist at Stanford University, Leveraging AI to Individualize Education
  • Dr. Inge Molenaar, Associate Professor at Radboud University, AI in education

The symposium took place on the 1st of June at Lindenberg Cultuurhuis. Besides the talk, the participants had access to lunch, coffee and snacks throughout the day, and afterdrinks at the end of the event. All of these perks helped create an open atmosphere, which the participants reported they really enjoyed. Everyone could mingle with their fellow classmates and discuss their interests and findings from the day, as well as chat with the speakers. The SymCo was very happy to see many of the participants following up with their questions during breaks and further inquiring about the speakers’s work.

The talks were spread throughout the day, followed by a panel discussion. A member of the ERISC — Ethically Responsible Innovation Student Collective for AI — joined on the panel to facilitate the discussion on the student part, presenting various prompts about AI development in the education field. This was also very successful, as it invited an open debate and provided another opportunity to explore what the speakers had presented.