Konferenz "Standardization of AI Ethics: Stakeholders, Values, and Profit" (in englischer Sprache)

With the EU AI Act entering into force under the New Legislative Framework, the standardization of AI technologies transitions from a conceptual goal to a legal mandate. In recent years, efforts have been made to evaluate the societal impacts of AI technologies beyond mere legal safeguards, aiming to “operationalize,” “standardize,” and even “certify” ethics. At the same time, actual ethical concerns regarding the operationalization of ethics have grown. In the forthcoming conference, our main questions focus on hidden stakeholders, values, and how profit-making might interfere with certifying and standardizing AI technologies.

The conference will revolve around two main topics:

The certification of ethics.
Driving forces and power imbalances in the current AI ecosystem (especially regarding its governance and certification).

This conference is the final event of the philosophical sub-project of the KI.NRW-Flagship project “Zertifizierte KI”.

Keynote Speakers:

Eleanor Drage
Markus Gabriel
Steven Gouveia
Pekka Mäkelä

With an art exhibition by ChrisW.

To register please contact: kluge[at]uni-bonn.de

Important Dates

Conference Date: 10-12 September 2025.

Location

Center For Science And Thought, Konrad-Zuse-Platz 1-3, 53227 Bonn and online

Programm

Mittwoch, 10. September 2025
14:00	Welcome Julia Maria Mönig & Nicholas Kluge Corrêa
14:30	Panel 1: Gaia Contu: To Be Loved or Deceived? Operationalizing Ethics in the Case of Social Robots Under the European AI Act.¹ Kristina Khutsishvili: ²The Ethics of Participation in Public Sector AI: A Path to Standardization? Experiences from Cities in the EU and UK.² Maria Mensch & Adrian Seelinger: Navigating Challenges and Opportunties od Standards Developing Organizations in Times of Rapid Technological Advancement: A DIN Perspective.³
16:00	Coffee Break
16:30	Keynote 1: Eleanor Drage: The High-Risk EU AI Act Toolkit (HEAT)⁴: Performativity, Consent, and Complaint.
18:00	Break
19:15	Dinner
Thursday September 11, 2025
09:00	Keynote 2: Pekka Mäkelä: AI and Institutional Responsibility⁵.
10:30	Coffee Break
11:00	Panel 2: Christian M. Stracke: Education and AI⁶. Chiara Marcoccia: Citizens Infrastructures as a Way to Govern AI's Power to Shape Our Shared Representations.⁷
12:00	Opening of Art Exhibition: ChrisW⁸ Preti & Me—Identity and Transformation.
12:30	Lunch Break
13:30	Panel discussion with Manoj Kahdan (RWTH Aachen), Maria Mensch (DIN), Julia Maria Mönig (Universität Bonn), Sebastian Schmidt (Fraunhofer IAIS), Mathias Schuh (Universität zu Köln): „Zertifizierte KI“: Ethical foundations and challenges.
15:30	Coffee Break
16:00	Panel 3: Tina Lassiter: Algorithmic Audits of HR-AI Tools in the United States – What Are HR Professionals’ and Job Seekers’ Perspectives? ⁹(online) Marcelo Pasetti: Who Audits the Auditors? Challenges and Paths for Auditing Artificial Intelligence.¹⁰ (online)
17:00	Coffee Break
17:30	Keynote 3: Markus Gabriel: title tbc
19:00	Break
19:15	Conference Dinner
Friday September 12, 2025
09:00	Invited talk: Abhiruchi Ojha & Leslie Keerthi Kumar SM: From Design to Deployment: Building an Accountability Model for Ethical AI in India ¹¹(online)
09:45	Fireside Chat on Autonomy with Olivia Erdélyi (online)
10:45	Coffee Break
11:15	Keynote 4: Steven Gouveia: Medical AI and the Trust Gap.
12:45	Final Discussion & Closing Remarks
13:00	End of the Conference