Keynote Speaker

“Beyond automation and offloading: Rethinking Human–AI Collaboration for Learning”

Professor Michail Giannakos, Co-Director of AI LEARN, Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), Norway

Abstract

Computational tools have long enabled humans to perform cognitive tasks beyond their unaided capabilities. Intelligence Augmentation (IA) refers to technologies that extend, rather than replace, human intellectual capacity, from everyday tools such as the Internet to advanced AI systems that keep humans meaningfully “in the loop.” Yet IA remains a challenging concept because it encompasses technologies with different levels of intelligence, autonomy, and support. What these technologies share is the partial delegation of cognition to technological systems. This makes it increasingly important to assess whether such systems genuinely augment human capabilities, merely substitute human effort, or provide convenience at the expense of understanding, meaningful performance, or agency. This is where Hybrid Intelligence (HI) becomes important. Rather than framing AI as a competition between humans and machines, HI focuses on designing sociotechnical systems in which humans and AI complement one another while preserving human agency, participation, and societal contribution. In this talk, I will discuss the emerging paradigm of HI and its role in developing new human-AI ensembles. Moreover, I will present some early results as well as the vision of the AI LEARN centre.

Bio

Michail (Michalis) Giannakos is Professor of Interaction Design and Learning Technologies at the Department of Computer Science, NTNU, and Professor II at the Department of Information Systems, University of Agder (UiA). He leads the Learner-Computer Interaction Lab and is Co-Director of the AI Centre for the Empowerment of Human Learning (AI-LEARN), one of Norway’s six national AI centres. His research focuses on developing new ways for humans to interact with intelligent learning systems, with particular emphasis on human-centred AI, learning technologies, and human-computer interaction. His work has been published in leading international journals and conferences in HCI and learning technologies, and has received several best paper awards and distinctions at venues such as LAK, ITiCSE, IDC, and ICALT. Giannakos is Editor-in-Chief of Behaviour & Information Technology. His research has been funded by the European Commission, Microsoft Research, Meta Reality Labs, the Research Council of Norway, and the US National Science Foundation. He is also a recipient of an ERCIM Fellowship and a “young research talent” grant from the Research Council of Norway. He was an Outstanding Academic Fellow at NTNU from 2017 to 2021, Honorary Professor at UCL from 2022 to 2023, and Visiting Professor at the Eindhoven AI Systems Institute, TU/e, from 2023 to 2024.