EUROLAN 2023 : EUROLAN-2023 Autumn School on Architectures, Resources, Evaluation and Implications of Generative AI

EUROLAN-2023
Autumn School on
Architectures, Resources, Evaluation and Implications of Generative AI
10 – 17 September 2023, Bălți (Republic of Moldova) & hybrid
http://eurolan.info.uaic.ro/2023/
The 16th in the series of EUROLAN biannual Schools on Natural Language Processing
30 years after the first edition (1993)

This Edition and the Series
EUROLAN-2023 will focus on recent research in natural language generation, machine learning applied to language, artificial intelligence (AI) and reasoning systems, computational linguistics and implications of AI in society, education and science, in order to familiarise participants with the theory and practise underlying Generative Artificial Intelligence Models (GAIM).
In the tradition of previous EUROLAN schools (see http://eurolan.info.uaic.ro/2023/ under “previous editions”), each day of the school will consist of tutorials/lectures in the morning, followed by hands-on exercises in the afternoon. The decision to organise EUROLAN events this way enabled participants to immediately apply the concepts covered in the lectures to practical problems, possibly creating “toy” applications that could potentially serve as a basis for future work.
In addition to lectures and exercises, brainstorming sessions and round tables will allow students to interact with professors and gain additional experience.
The school is open to students at the bachelor, masters, and PhD levels, as well as to exceptional undergraduates and industrial IT workers interested in learning about GAIM.

Schools’ structure and topics
Tutorials and practical sessions will deal with the following topics:
• Types of Artificial Intelligence Models
• Evolution and Present-Day GAIM
• Core Algorithms: Neural Networks, (Large) Language Models, Generative Adversarial Networks
• Resources for AI
• Evaluation of GAIM
• Applications of Generative AI: GAIM for Images, Videos, Texts
• Benefits to Science, Medicine, Media, Humanities, etc.
• Implications and Concerns: Social, Educational, Professional

Brainstorming sessions will address questions such as:
• Can computers learn common sense?
• Is the much-referred concept of “AI bottleneck”, hampering the acquisition of pragmatic and conceptual knowledge by computers, obsolete?
• Can the current limitations of GAIM be overcome?
• How could humanity guarantee safe usage of future AI?
• How should AI be reflected in legislation?

Registration
To announce your intention to participate in EUROLAN-2023, please fill in the registration form, no later than July 31st. Since the number of participants in the school is limited, you will be contacted immediately after this date to secure your registration.
Teams of 2-4 students who will work together on hands-on exercises are encouraged to be formed and will be announced on the first day of the school. Preferences for teammates can be forwarded to the organisers before or in the evening of the school opening and will be taken into consideration to the extent possible.

Registration Fee
• before August 1st (early registration): 400 EUR
• after August 1st: 500 EUR.
• Non students: 500 EUR.
The fee provides access to all tutorials and hand-on sessions, includes school’s materials, lunches, coffee breaks, as well as the social events (city tour, welcome reception & farewell party, excursion).
A small number of grants could be announced later, depending on the sponsorships the school will receive. If you are interested, please keep an eye on the News section of the EUROLAN-2023 pages.

Confirmed Lecturers
• Paola Monachesi – University of Utrecht, Netherland
• Alexandru Huțanu – Pentalog, Romania
• Nancy Ide – Vassar College, USA
• Tudor Toma – National Health Service, England
• Others (TBA)

Venue and travel
The lectures and the practical sessions will be held in the “Alecu Russo” Bălți State University (38, Pușkin St.), Republic of Moldova.
Bălți can be reached from two directions, mainly by car: from Chișinău, the capital of the Republic of Moldova (135 km) and from Iași, Romania (85 km). Both Chișinău and Iași have very good national and international air connections. There is no VISA required to entry the Republic of Moldova for EU citizens. See here for more details - https://mfa.gov.md/en/content/visa-regime-foreigners.

Programme
Each day of the school will typically include two tutorials in the morning and one or two hands-on sessions in the afternoon, each lasting approx. 1.5 hours (the balance of tutorials and hands-on sessions may vary from topic to topic). The final schedule will be available on the school’s website before the beginning of the event.
The school will begin on Sunday evening, September 10, with the registration of participants. A welcome reception will be held on Monday evening. Evenings are usually dedicated to group or individual discussions and social events in the city.
The school will include a visit in the city of Bălți and a one-day excursion to a vineyard / wine cellar of the Republic of Moldova (renowned for its rich history in wine making).

Satellite Event
The FUTURITY-2023 Workshop, the third in a series, will be held as a satellite event of EUROLAN-2023. The workshop will enable participants to present their own work related to the topic of the school to an audience of practitioners, researchers, and scholars, and provide opportunities to receive feedback.
The registration fee for EUROLAN-2023 will be reduced with 120 EURO for those participants presenting a paper in the FUTURITY Workshop. In order to benefit of the reduced fee, participants need to register their paper to easychair - https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=futurity2023, before 31st July. The notification of the acceptance will be sent before August 8th.
Please notice that no other call for participation will be issued for this event.

Accommodation
Low-cost accommodation for EUROLAN-2023 participants will be available in the University’s premises (single or shared double rooms). Alternatively, participants may opt for a number of hotels in the Bălți city.

Important Dates
• 31 July – deadline paper submission for satellite event
• 08 August – notification for satellite event
• 10 August – early registration deadline
• 31 August – last day for late registration
• 10 September (Sunday) – on-site registration and opening of the School
• 11 September (Monday) – 16 September (Saturday) – EUROLAN-2023 School (including excursion day)
• 17 September (Sunday) – closing of the School

Program Committee
• Svetlana Cojocaru – Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Moldova
• Dan Cristea – Iași branch of the Romanian Academy and “Alexandru Ioan Cuza” University of Iași
• Constantin Gaindric – Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Moldova
• Daniela Gîfu – Iași branch of the Romanian Academy and “Alexandru Ioan Cuza” University of Iași
• Nancy Ide – Vassar College and Brandeis University
• Mircea Petic – “Alecu Russo” Bălți State University
• Diana Trandabăț – “Alexandru Ioan Cuza” University of Iași
• Dan Tufiș – Romanian Academy, Institute for Artificial Intelligence, Bucharest

Organising Committee
• Svetlana Cojocaru – Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Moldova
• Constantin Gaindric – Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Moldova
• Lucian Gâdioi – “Alexandru Ioan Cuza” University of Iași
• Daniela Gîfu – Iași branch of the Romanian Academy and “Alexandru Ioan Cuza” University of Iași
• Adrian Iftene – “Alexandru Ioan Cuza” University of Iași
• Corina Negara – “Alecu Russo” Bălți State University
• Mircea Petic – “Alecu Russo” Bălți State University
• Valentina Prițcan – “Alecu Russo” Bălți State University
• Andrei Scutelnicu – Iași branch of the Romanian Academy and “Alexandru Ioan Cuza” University of Iași
• Diana Trandabăț – “Alexandru Ioan Cuza” University of Iași

Contact
• Mircea Petic: [email protected]
• Diana Trandabăț: [email protected]