Workshops
The first day of the conference, Tuesday 15 December 2026, comprises a range of workshops. Delegates will find these events to be especially valuable where there is a current need to consider the introduction of new AI technologies into their own organisations.
There will be four half-day workshops. Delegates are free to choose any combination of sessions to attend. The programme of workshops is shown below. Note that the first session starts at 11 a.m. to reduce the need for delegates to stay in Cambridge on the previous night.
There is a lunch break from 12.30-13.15 and there are refreshment breaks from 14.45-15.15 and from 16.45-17.00.
Please register for either the workshops day (15 December) or a suitable combination of days (15-17 December).
Workshops organiser: Professor Adrian Hopgood, University of Portsmouth, UK
Sessions 1 and 2 - Stream 1 (11.00-12.30 and 13.15-14.45 Peterhouse Lecture Theatre)
Generative AI – Challenges and Opportunities
Chair: Dr Carla Di Cairano-Gilfedder, BT Labs, UK
Draft programme:
11:00 Welcome and introduction
11:05 Keynote: Generative AI in Human-Robot Interaction for Healthcare: Challenges and Opportunities – Dr Erfu Yan, University of Strathclyde, UK
12:00 Interactive tutorial and discussion: Generative AI in Practice
12:30 Lunch
13:15 Invited talk: The Role of Generative AI in Effective, Embodied Human-Robot Interaction – Dr Maria Elena Giannaccini, University of Nottingham, UK
14:00 Invited talk: TBC – Dr Tianjin Huang, University of Exeter, UK
14:45 End
Sessions 1 and 2 - Stream 2 (11.00-12.30 and 13.15-14.45 Lubbock Room)
AI Ethics and the Philosophy of Logic and Computation
Chair: Prof. Antonis Kakas, University of Cyprus
This tutorial-style workshop will present a philosophical discussion on what is an appropriate logical foundation for ethical AI. The emphasis of the tutorial will not be so much on morality itself, i.e., on what are the moral values for AI ethics, but on how systems would reason about morality and how their design would accommodate an ethical behaviour. The problem is quite deep and challenges the conventional computational model of a strict logical form, even when this model is probabilistic where maximal probability is sought.
Should systems be built with hard norms that are applied under strict logical reasoning or should they operate under a more flexible logical form of normative guidance? Is dialectic argumentation motivated by the work of Aristotle on the practical reasoning in ethics a possible candidate for the logical and computational foundations of ethical decision making by artificial agents? Is the design of ethical AI systems a one-shot process that occurs at the beginning of the “life” of a system or should the design of the system be such that this is in continuous learning mode of learning and adjusting itself to operate ethically? In other words, one-shot ethics by a-priori rational design or habitual learning of ethical operation?
The tutorial will review the general philosophical discussion on these matters and then consider specific questions pertaining to the principled ethical design and development of AI systems. It will close with an open discussion.
Sessions 3 and 4 - Stream 1 (15.15-16.45 and 17.00-18.30 Peterhouse Lecture Theatre)
AI and Learning Health Systems
Chairs:
Prof. Jeremy Wyatt, University of Southampton, UK
Prof. Philip Scott, University of Wales Trinity Saint David, UK
We propose that Learning Health Systems (LHSs) are the best places to develop and evaluate AI tools for healthcare applications. LHSs are based around a defined set of problems addressed by a multi-disciplinary learning community. LHSs commit to multiple cycles of continuing quality improvement by making the data from digital patient records and diagnostic results easily accessible and analysable by staff and patients to clarify problems and identify and model possible solutions. In addition, LHSs commit to the implementation of algorithms, risk scores and other computer based tools that might help reduce the problems identified. As a result of the learning culture of LHSs and the data and knowledge infrastructure they provide, this makes them ideal settings for the development, testing and and deployment of AI tools to improve health and care. An LHS can be of any size as the cultural shift and technology required can scale from a single GP practice or clinical service to a hospital, region or country.
This discussion workshop will introduce the LHS concept to AI & health professionals in more detail and review the opportunities, challenges and solutions to developing and deploying AI in LHSs, while emphasising practical examples and discussion among participants. The workshop organisers are from complementary clinical and NHS informatics backgrounds, co-chair the BCS group on Health & Care AI and have a track record of organising workshop-style events that include excellent speakers and active participation by delegates in discussions about AI and related topics. The workshop will feature real-world examples of LHS and illustrate their value to AI innovators.
Sessions 3 and 4 - Stream 2 (15.15-16.45 and 17.00-18.30 Lubbock Room)
AI for Business, Strategy, and Manufacturing
Chairs:
Nadia Abouayoub, Independent Strategist in Innovation for Financial Services
Dr Giovanna Martinez Arellano, University of Nottingham, UK
Session 3 (15.15-16.45): AI for Business and Strategy – Ms Nadia Abouayoub
In an era where AI is crucial for many companies, ensuring its successful implementation is often the biggest challenge. Companies are keen to have a successful implementation of AI by ensuring support for their vision, mission, and an increase in revenues through innovation. Depending on the level of maturity of the companies, the presence of legacy systems, and the vision and mission of the company, the AI strategy can be a success or a failure.
The Chair, Ms Nadia Abouayoub, will take you through how to successfully implement an AI strategy, what the key concepts are to take into account for a company, and how to define an AI strategy. She will also cover what to do in order to support and communicate the strategy to executives, to use AI for business investment, and to improve competitiveness.
The other topics that will be covered are how to navigate the world of data, how to ensure competitiveness through improvement of customer experience, and financial challenges linked to AI requirements. Last but not least, the workshop will address how to navigate the intellectual property related to AI.
Session 4 (17.00-18.30): AI for Manufacturing – Dr Giovanna Martinez Arellano
As manufacturing enters an era increasingly shaped by AI, the central challenge is no longer simply how to integrate these technologies, but how to do so in ways that are ethical, sustainable, and genuinely beneficial to people. Human-centric industrial AI is beginning to take shape across the scientific community, yet fundamental questions remain unresolved. What does meaningful human involvement look like in increasingly autonomous systems? What should remain uniquely human? And how do we preserve creativity, judgement, and expertise as AI becomes more capable? Can current AI enable this? These questions are particularly urgent as concerns around de-skilling, over-reliance on automation, and the erosion of tacit knowledge become increasingly relevant to the future of industrial work.
Focusing on the shop-floor dimension of manufacturing, this session will examine the current state of the art in industrial AI as well as the state of real deployment in manufacturing companies. We will discuss the emerging challenges that frontier AI poses to the manufacturing sector to then introduce fundamental pillars for designing future manufacturing systems in which human and artificial intelligence are not treated as competing capabilities, but as complementary forms of intelligence. New developments will be essential if the next generation of industrial systems is to amplify human capability rather than simply automate it.
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AI-2026 Forty-sixth SGAI International Conference on Artificial Intelligence
CAMBRIDGE, ENGLAND 15-17 DECEMBER 2026
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paper submission and info for authors |
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