About the Author:
Sylvia Ayesu is an MA in International Relations/Political Science student at the Geneva Graduate Institute and took part in the Europaeum Summer School on AI and the Digital Future (7-9 July 2025) at the University of Luxembourg.
Day 1: “Luxembourg Calling!”
Crossing borders, new cities, settling in, and meeting roommates…
I started off my trip to Luxembourg for the Europaeum Summer School 2025 with a flight to Brussels and a bus ride from there to Luxembourg. Seeing two cities I haven’t yet been to in a day filled me with much excitement. The journey was smooth, although a bit tiring but meeting my lovely roommates that night and the anticipation for the days ahead filled me with so much joy.
Day 2: Foundations and First Impressions
Unpacking the technical world of AI and sharing ideas over dinner…
First day! We arrived at the beautiful campus of the University of Luxembourg at Esch for a fully packed day! We had discussions, lectures and presentations around the Technical introduction to AI and its impacts in security and safety, specifically, ontologies, AI and software engineering, Revisiting the triptychs of software engineering in the FinTech and RegTech realms Rights and finally some student presentations on Deep Generative Approaches to Network Science for Social System Simulation, Standardizing Reward Model Ensembles for Active Preference Modelling and GenAI for Sustainable Development: An Inductive Analysis of International Organizations
One thing that struck me was the fact that AI was broad and other people cared about other aspects of it. For me, all I had mostly cared about was its regulation and governance but others were passionate about its production and engineering, its usage in areas like mathematics and computation etc
We ended the day with some Portuguese cuisine at the restaurant Abadia where we had the chance to interact more with one another and relax after a packed day of insightful discussions.
Day 3: When Machines Meet Morals
Fairness, bias, and an unforgettable ethics workshop…
…then some discussions on an AI area I was familiar with 🙂 I love Ethics and so enjoyed this day thoroughly. The discussions, lectures and presentations bordered on fairness and bias in AI, Computational Ethics, Transparency in AI Models, basically, who takes accountability and responsibility for AI and how worried should we be as consumers?
This day’s standout moment was an extraordinary interactive workshop on AI ethics led by Prof. Dr. Maximilian Kiener. Far from a typical lecture, it challenged us to grapple with the complexities of responsibility and accountability in the age of AI. A brilliantly designed exercise blurred the line between human and machine, forcing us to confront where responsibility truly lies. The session closed with a jaw-dropping twist that turned everything on its head, undoubtedly one of the most thought-provoking and creatively delivered experiences of the entire week.
Since there was no organised dinner, we ended the day by heading into the city to relax and explore its beauty!
Day 4: Regulating the Future & Lasting Connections
Debating law and human rights, presenting my research, and celebrating an unforgettable week…
Final day! Personally, it came with such mixed feelings. While I was happy this day was finally here and I get to present my work, I was also sad the program was coming to an end. However, I took consolation in the fact that I had learnt a lot and made some really great connections as well. We had lectures, discussions and presentations on the AI landscape in Law. I’m not a lawyer but this is where my utmost interest in AI lies. Is AI being over-regulated or do we need more regulation? How do we navigate the AI and human right
challenges? Why and how do we regulate Social Media? What are the challenges of AI, DataProtection and discriminatory algorithms? and finally the popular AI Act: does it balance innovation, regulation and responsibility?
I had the opportunity to present my work on Watching the Unseen: Facial Recognition, Securitization, and the Digital Repression of Uyghurs in China and received some valuable feedback which will help shape my final work.
We ended the day with some good food and wine as we celebrated the end of an eventful couple of days and said our final goodbyes since some of us left that evening!
Altogether, this event is one I will always look back on with gratitude for the opportunity to contribute and engage with scholars, lecturers and fellow students with similar interest and passion for AI, meet and make new friends and to explore the city of Luxembourg! Thank you for the experience. It’s one I won’t forget easily!
