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The international Association COMEN announces the upcoming start of the “Mediterranean Intercultural Dialogues” for the two-year period 2024-2025 with the general theme:

“Artificial intelligence and scenarios: will it be a better world?”

with the related thematic areas of cultural comparison. Participation is open to speakers identified by the COMEN International Working Group and to anyone else who requests participation.

Thematic introduction

The application of Artificial Intelligence now affects and characterizes the global scenario in all fields of social organisation: from industrial production technologies to medicine, from the legal world to that of schools, from scientific research to communication and computer-generated imagery.

There are many benefits and prospects for such applications; however, regulation is necessary in order to avoid improper uses if not contrary to ethical values. Work is underway in this direction through specific bodies at the United Nations, EU and in Italy. Complex matter, considering the quantity and finalization of the possible applications, starting from military uses or by terrorist organizations.

Another important aspect is that of the protection of privacy and fundamental human rights, especially in relation to the use of AI applications in the management of databases available to the public administration, which are subject to quite a few serious violations as recent news shows.

One of the most significant risk scenarios is that of achieving forms of total control of individual behavior, managed electronically with AI applications, influencing and conditioning people’s freedom for sociopolitical or commercial purposes. We already see it with the extensive application of cookies on the web and the immediacy of interconnections by competing entities.

Cybercrime hacking activities are a very present and organized reality in the world of information technology, to achieve objectives of various kinds, especially speculative but also of a criminal nature, in particular with regard to fragile people such as the elderly and children. The world of childhood and compulsory schooling is particularly exposed to improper use of AI, with virtual simulation in pornography and pedophilia.

The use of the numerous databases already present in our system, with the “intelligent” cross-referencing of contents, represents one of the concrete risks in the future.

Aware of these potential critical issues, the bodies specifically established within the United Nations, EU and Italy are working in order to arrive at appropriate regulatory forms.

However, the matter is so delicate that it requires the attention and active participation in the debate on the part of qualified representatives of the cultural, scientific and institutional world. The Mediterranean Intercultural Discussions 2024-2025 are oriented in this direction.

Thematic areas

in the quality of life of the person, in the family, in school, in communication and in the behavioral sphere
in dialogue between peoples, overcoming conflicts, the defense of human rights and Peace
in contrasting social critical issues, for order and security, application risks of AI
in the world of humanistic culture, ethical values ​​and identity roots, science and advanced technologies
in the world of work and employment
in the governance of territories and the protection of environmental resources
in the management of the prevention of natural and anthropogenic risks
In regulatory aspects: the United Nations Committee on AI, the EU Artificial Intelligence Act and the AI ​​Commission for information in Italy.

Method of presentation of interventions:

  • max 4 pages in Word with 2-2-2-2 sheet margin layout, Times New Roman font, body 11, max 50 lines, including any graphics and illustrations.
  • Delivery terms: open until a date to be established.

CONFERENZA MEDITERRANEA – COMEN (Italy)

IBAN: IT35Z0760117000001069946653

Welcome friends!

The circulation of ideas, the history of civilizations, the quality of life in peaceful coexistence, the beauty of the environment, the growth of local societies in a process of sustainable development, are the cardinal points of the Association.
COMEN believes in the joy of living as an indispensable right of the human person. Anyone who shares these principles, shunning any fanaticism or cultural abuse, will be welcomed into the Association and will become a participant or promoter of initiatives, projects and events.

The Association was born out of the “Kamárina Memorandum of Understanding” (Sicily, 1993), on the occasion of the International Mediterranean Meeting organized by the Mediterranean Foundation, which was attended by numerous representatives of institutions, universities, associations, diplomats, scholars and observers. Aware of the importance of Mediterranean culture in the process of changing world society, they signed the constitution of the “International Working Group” dedicated to the emerging issues of the Mediterranean Area and subsequently, on January 22, 1994, a public act was established in Rome “COMEN – International Association and Working Group for the Promotion of Cultural Centrality, the Enhancement of Common Resources and the Quality of Life in the Mediterranean Area “, without any profit.

In 1998 in Palermo, Castel Utveggio, with the active involvement of the Presidency of the Region, COMEN organized and directed the memorable event “Mediterranean III Millennium, before Man – Intercultural Talks” which was attended by illustrious representatives of almost all Mediterranean countries, including which Predrag Matvejević author of “Mediterranean Breviary”, Paolo Ungari, Franco Garbaccio, Antonio Giornelli, Michael Soudarskis, Carlo Russo, Enrico Molinaro, Nead Abdel Latif, Josè Joaquin Porras, Enrico Vinci, Tarik Mira, Rafael Fellah, Tanouti Boumediene, Josè Louis Gotor, Jan Refalo, Andrea Karajannis, Michele Capasso, Donato Matassino, Baldassare Messina and others.

The President Francesco Venerando Mantegna