YEREVAN, Armenia — The American University of Armenia (AUA) is pleased to announce that its Center for Ethics in Public Affairs, under the leadership of Professor Maria Baghramian, European Research Area Chair at AUA, has secured a €600,000 Horizon Europe grant to join a major European research initiative redefining what “success” in artificial intelligence (AI) means.
FORSEE (Forging Successful AI Applications for European Economy and Society) is a Horizon Europe Research and Innovation Actions project coordinated by the Centre for Digital Policy of the University College Dublin (Ireland). AUA joins a prestigious international consortium that includes Tilburg University’s Institute for Law, Technology and Society (Netherlands), Trinity College Dublin’s ADAPT Centre (Ireland), TASC Europe Studies (Ireland), the Wissenschaftszentrum Berlin für Sozialforschung (Germany), the European Digital SME Alliance (Belgium), Université Paul Sabatier Toulouse III (France), and Demos Helsinki (Finland).
A team of five researchers from AUA will lead the project’s work on trustworthy AI in the age of Large Language Models (LLM), bringing its distinctive expertise in philosophy, political epistemology, and ethics to investigate the conditions required for AI systems to be genuinely trustworthy. The two-year project will run parallel to the Center’s Horizon Europe €2.5 million ETICA project, which investigates topics relevant to ethics in the public domain.
Professor Baghramian explains, “While AI’s success is usually measured by technical performance and profit margins, FORSEE investigates how AI can be evaluated through its societal impact and sustainability, asking the critical question: What are the right metrics of success in AI? Creating trustworthy AI is part of our answer to that question. The AUA team of five researchers will investigate the conditions for trust in AI, focusing on the impact of AI on the environment and healthcare.”
Over the course of the project, AUA will host international workshops, a summer school, and a large international conference. Researchers and practitioners in the field are also invited to join a hybrid monthly reading and discussion group on the topics of the project. The various activities will lead to open-access, peer-reviewed international publications.
Founded in 1991, the American University of Armenia (AUA) is a private, independent university located in Yerevan, Armenia, affiliated with the University of California and accredited by the WASC Senior College and University Commission in the United States. AUA provides local and international students with Western-style education through top-quality undergraduate and graduate degree and certificate programs, promotes research and innovation, encourages civic engagement and community service, and fosters democratic values.