Upcoming Workshop "How Computing is Changing the World"
Friday 31 October
Workshop "How Computing is Changing the World: Exploring Synergies and Challenges of AI and Quantum Technologies for Society"
The QISS and InDeep research groups are pleased to invite you to a workshop exploring the synergies and challenges of AI and Quantum Technologies for society.
Novel computing technologies, including artificial intelligence and quantum computing, are rapidly transforming society. In this workshop, we will take stock of the recent advances in both fields, examine their ethical and legal dimensions and oversight, and discuss how to shape their societal impacts responsibly. To what extent do advances in these field reinforce one another? What lessons can successful interventions in one field offer the other? Join us for an engaging exchange at the intersection of technology, ethics, and society.
Event details
Date: Friday 31 October 2025
Time: 09.30-18.00
Location: Sustainalab Matrix One, Science Park 301, Amsterdam
Workshop includes lunch, with drinks at the end of the workshop.
Participation is free of charge, but places are limited.
Speakers
• Amira Abbas (Google Quantum AI) TBC
• Mehrnoosh Sadrzadeh (UCL London)
• Evert van Nieuwenburg (Leiden University)
• Ronald de Wolf (CWI & UvA, QuSoft)
• Joris van Hoboken (UvA)
• Martha Lewis (UvA)
• Sebastian De Haro (UvA)
• Jelle Zuidema (UvA)
• Christian Schaffner (UvA, QuSoft)
• Eline de Jong (UvA)
• Matteo Fabbri (UvA)
More speakers will follow
How Computing is Changing the World: Exploring Synergies and Challenges of AI and Quantum Technologies for Society
AI is a burgeoning field, with many tangible societal implications, including in our daily lives and for the global economy. Likewise, quantum technologies of various sorts are pervasive, and second-generation quantum technologies such as quantum computing are expected to follow AI’s lead in the future. Furthermore, recent research is moving towards integrating aspects of human and artificial intelligence with quantum technology.
Next to the similarities and connections between the two fields, there are also important differences. For example, quantum computers are in their early stages of development, and their societal impact is yet to be realized. According to the Collingridge dilemma, in the early stages of a technology, it is very difficult to predict its impact while it is still relatively easy to control and steer. Once the technology is fully developed and its impacts are clear, it becomes difficult to control or change its course. Are AI and quantum at different stages of a Collingridge dilemma, so that the impacts of AI are clear but difficult to control, while the impacts of quantum technologies are still relatively easy to control but difficult to predict? What are the interesting cross-connections between these two fields, so that research on the technical and the ethical, legal, and societal (ELS) aspects of these technologies can mutually inform and develop fruitful synergies? Is the framing in terms of two stages of a Collingridge dilemma oversimplified in that, like quantum, AI also faces many uncertainties and future unpredictabilities? And, given that state players and companies are already acting in order to protect themselves against the threat of quantum computers, what methodologies are suitable for anticipating ELS impacts and relevant aspects of quantum?
What is the status of the integration of human and artificial intelligence with quantum technology, and what are its possible scientific and societal implications?This workshop aims to bring together experts from the fields of AI and quantum to explore these questions, foster interdisciplinary dialogue, and identify potential pathways for responsible development and integration of AI and quantum technologies.
Programme 09.30-18.00:
• 09.30 – 10.00 Coffee & arrival
• Presentations and panel discussion: Technologies
10.00 – 10.30 Jelle Zuidema (UvA)
10.30 – 11.00 Mehrnoosh Sadrzadeh (UCL London)
11.00 – 11.15 short break
11.15 – 11.45 Martha Lewis (UvA)
11.45 – 12.15 Ronald de Wolf (CWI & UvA, QuSoft)
12.15 – 12.45 Panel Discussion, also with Christian Schaffner (UvA, QuSoft), chair Joris van Hoboken (UvA)
• 12:45 – 13.45 Lunch break (same building)
• Presentations and panel discussion: Society
13.45 – 14.00 Introduction, Sebastian De Haro (UvA)
14.00 – 14.30 Evert van Nieuwenburg (Leiden University)
14.30 – 15.00 Eline de Jong (UvA)
15.00 – 15.15 short break
15.15 – 15.45 TBA
15.45 – 16.15 Matteo Fabbri (UvA)
16.15 – 17.00 Panel Discussion, chair Jelle Zuidema (UvA)
• 17.00 – 18.00 Drinks
QISS and InDeep are research projects part of the National Research Agenda, working together for the first time to bring you this timely workshop.
- The Quantum Impact on Societal Security (QISS) consortium is based at the University of Amsterdam and analyses the ethical, legal and societal impact of the upcoming society-wide transition to quantum-safe cryptography. The consortium's objective is to contribute to the creation of a Dutch ecosystem where quantum-safe cryptography can thrive, and mobilize this ecosystem to align technological applications with ethical, legal, and social values.
- InDeep is a 6 year research consortium focused on Interpreting Deep Learning Models for Text and Sound, in which 5 universities and 7 companies collaborate. InDeep’s goal is to find ways to explain how Artificial Intelligence processes and generates language, speech and music.
Organized together with UvA’s Institute for Advanced Study, as part of the Research Priority Area Shaping Interfaces between Science and the Public.
This workshop is made possible with funding from the Quantum Delta Netherlands growthfund program.