Prof Virginia Dignum – The AI Paradox: How to Make Sense of a Complex Future
The more powerful AI becomes, the less control we have over it, so what does that mean for the choices we make right now?
Join us for a live interview with Virginia Dignum, professor of responsible artificial intelligence at Umeå University and an internationally recognised authority in AI ethics and policy, whose work has informed initiatives at the European Commission, the UN, the World Economic Forum, UNESCO, and UNICEF. Hosted by David Lorimer, this conversation explores themes from her new book, The AI Paradox (Princeton, 2026), which argues that the more capable AI becomes, the more clearly it reveals what is distinctively human: creative reasoning, ethical judgement, empathy, and meaning-making within context.
The discussion will range across the book’s central paradoxes: why greater AI capability can mean less human control, why reducing bias doesn’t automatically produce more justice, and why our cultural bias toward technological solutions can deepen the problems it aims to solve.
Dignum challenges the assumption that artificial general intelligence is inevitable, arguing instead that it is a human-made construct shaped by our choices and values, meaning we retain real responsibility for its trajectory. Expect a searching look at where AI genuinely extends human potential, where it merely mimics understanding, and why AI safety demands grappling with social and cultural trade-offs, not just technical fixes.
Whether you work with AI systems or simply want a clearer-eyed view of the technology reshaping our institutions, this live interview offers a chance to engage with one of the field’s most thoughtful voices — and to have your own questions addressed directly.
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About the speaker:
Virginia Dignum is Professor of Responsible Artificial Intelligence at Umeå University, Sweden, where she leads the AI Policy Lab. She is senior advisor on AI policy to the Wallenberg Foundations, chair of the ACM’s Technology Policy Council, and founder of ALLAI, the Dutch AI Alliance. Her advisory roles have included the UN Advisory Body on AI, the EU’s High Level Expert Group on Artificial Intelligence, UNESCO’s and the OECD’s AI expert groups, and leadership positions with the WEF and UNICEF on AI policy.
A Wallenberg Scholar and Fellow of both EURAI and ELLIS, she is also a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences and received the 2026 Nordic DAIR Lifetime Achievement Award in AI. She holds a PhD in Artificial Intelligence from Utrecht University and has published over 300 peer-reviewed works with more than 27,000 citations (h-index of 56). Her new book, The AI Paradox (2026), is published by Princeton University Press.
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