30. March 2022

The Danish Pioneer Center for AI marks its official opening

Denmark’s new Pioneer Center for Artificial Intelligence marked its official opening with an event that focuses on how fundamental AI research can contribute to solving some of society’s greatest challenges and bring Denmark to the forefront of human-centered artificial intelligence.

Quiñonero Candela speaking at the opening of Pioneer Center for Artificial Intelligence

The official opening of the Pioneer Center for Artificial Intelligence took place on March 28 in the Black Diamond in Copenhagen.

The participants were shown the vision behind the center and examples of how fundamental research can be used to help address some of society’s most important challenges.

Human-centric AI

According to Joaquin Quiñonero Candela, technical fellow for AI at LinkedIn, who delivered the keynote speech at the opening event, the next frontier in the deployment at scale of AI for the benefit of humankind is not technological but societal and human, and with the new pioneer center, Denmark will play a leading role – both nationally and internationally – in developing human-centric artificial intelligence.

“We must build AI that people can trust, and we must develop participatory AI governance so that AI can serve everyone. Denmark has a long tradition of trust in democratic institutions and is a world leader in human-centric design. These two superpowers put Denmark in an excellent position to help guide the design of human-centric AI,” concluded Candela.

Research with societal impact

Director of the center, Professor Serge Belongie, hopes that the center, with its focus on societal challenges, people, and design, will challenge and change the way artificial intelligence creates value for Denmark.

“The unique character of the Pioneer Center for AI comes through in the way in which we work with the grand challenges. The challenges we will confront are not merely a matter of big data and bigger models; rather, they are high-touch, messy, deeply human problems, for which tech is but one component, situated alongside vital contributions from social science, participatory design, journalism, public policy, and beyond,” explained Belongie.

Read more about the Pioneer Center for Artificial Intelligence

Press Release from the Department of Computer Science

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