Generative AI tools rely almost exclusively on non-Mediterranean computational infrastructure and on datasets dominated by Western and Global North representations, in which Mediterranean languages, histories and scholarship are thin. These same systems are deeply shaping how knowledge is produced, validated and circulated: in research and teaching, in publishing and archives, and across cultural production more widely.
Whatever sits outside their frame becomes harder to find, to cite and to build on. Regional knowledge, in its own forms, risks being reduced to what the models already recognise. What the models recognise can also be widened, through regional corpora, shared computing capacity and the institutional choices that would let the region shape the tools it works with.
This public seminar bridges the policy forum’s discussion on Responsible Conduct of Research and Intercultural Ethics with the real-world impact of Generative AI on knowledge production across the Mediterranean.
The event “The Conditions for Independence: Generative AI and Mediterranean Knowledge” is co-organised by Matera Basilicata 2019 Foundation and Anna Lindh Foundation (ALF) as part of the Matera 2026 Mediterranean Capital of Culture and Dialogue programme. The event will provide an opportunity for public discussion, bringing together experts from across the Euro-Mediterranean region to explore how intercultural dialogue can strengthen cooperation in the field of research.
The event complements the Anna Lindh Foundation policy debate “Science for Society, Society for Science: Fostering Intercultural Cooperation in Euro-Med Research”, taking place in Matera on 30 September and 1 October.
The seminar will be held on Thursday, 1 October 2026, from 5:30 pm to 7:00 pm, at the Le Monacelle in Matera.
Language: English
Moderator
Federico Bomba, Artistic Director of Sineglossa and Research Fellow in Human-Computer Interaction
Opening remarks
Rita Orlando, General Director Matera Basilicata 2019 Foundation
Josep Ferré – Anna Lindh Foundation Executive Director
Speakers
Sari Hanafi – Member of the Steering Committee, Research ethics in the Middle
East and North Africa (REMENA)
Valerio Calabrese
Creative Director (Motion designer Filmmaker)
Yousef Torman – Managing Director, Arab States Research and Education
Network (ASREN)
Dorte Riemenschneider – Managing Director, European Citizen Science
Association (ECSA)
Emily Choynowski, Chief Academic Officer, Knowledge E; Co-Founder and
Director of Operations, Forum for Open Research in MENA
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