Humanity despite Ai: Critical Thinking

The recent decision by the University of Chicago to ban Ai, laptops and phones from its undergraduate Social Sciences Core is bold, but also somewhat expected. The way ai is changing our lives is the subject of much debate, fears and hopes, but when it comes to our brains and more in general our very ability to think and do so critically, we cannot but ask ourselves what the purpose of a university should be in the age of Ai. Should universities teach students how to use their brains rather than simply how to use Ai?

with the expert guidance of Critical ai maestro, Benedetta Brevini, we'll get to the thorny questions: what happens to writing, summarising, critical thinking, interpretation and independent research when machines can perform these tasks instantly? What about original thought? And most importantly, what would an education designed around these principles look like in practice? Join this panel as Benedetta and others connect the dots between tech, society and democracy. Make sense of it all and learn what to do about it.

*This Conversation is part of Brussels Ideas Festival hosted at Full Circle House from 20-22 November 2026.
*Full programme available on https://fullcircle.eu/ideasfestival/

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ABOUT The Host & Panel

dr Benedetta Brevini is an expert in Critical Ai, the relationship between data capitalism, ai and the climate crisis and environmental communication. She is currently Research professor in platforms and society at ku Leuven, and Associate Professor of political economy of communication at the University of Sydney. Before joining academia she worked as a journalist in Milan, New York and London for Cnbc, Rai and the Guardian and held tenured positions at City University London and Brunel University London. She writes on The Guardian’s Comment is Free and contributes to a number of print and web publications including South China Morning Post, OpenDemocracy and the Conversation. She is currently working on a new book project on Communication, Data Capitalism and the Climate Emergency.

Martina Salvante is a historian of fascism, gender, and disability based in the Uk, where she has taught and researched at the Universities of Warwick and Nottingham. She also serves on the editorial board of Genesis, Italy's journal of women's and gender history. Her teaching centres on helping students progressively take ownership of their learning through interaction, carefully scaffolded knowledge, and critical thinking. A fierce advocate for the humanities, she argues that the real question is not how students can master Ai, but whether universities can still teach them to think for themselves.