Artificial intelligence is now accessible to everyone. Yet, while many people use it every day, few truly understand how it works, its limitations, or the issues surrounding it. To address this need, the Namur Digital Institute (NaDI) is launching “What If AI…,” a series of lecture-workshops open to the general public, coordinated by doctoral students Elisa De Coster (PReCISE) and Aline Nardi (CRIDS). 

“The idea behind the project is to demystify artificial intelligence,” begins Elisa De Coster. “As researchers, we’re fortunate to be aware of the issues raised by AI. We wanted curious members of the public to have access to these keys to understanding as well.” 

“Before 2022 and the rise of ChatGPT, these tools were limited to a niche audience,” continues Aline Nardi. “Since then, the use of AI has become widespread at record speed, but reflection on the societal implications of these uses has not kept pace. This series of lectures is an invitation to take a step back and understand what’s happening behind the scenes.” 

Each session, lasting about two hours, will bring together the perspectives of several specialists. A doctoral student in computer science will explain the technical workings of AI, while his counterpart in law will address the legal, ethical, and societal implications.

Speakers from the professional world will share their real-world experience, and an interactive activity will allow the audience to put these concepts into practice. Interactivity, interdisciplinarity, and accessibility to the general public are the three pillars of the project.

Each event will address a different social issue: 

• October 1, 2026 – La Nef
  What if AI were your confidant?
  Can you confide in a chatbot? What are the risks? 
• October 22, 2026 – PA02
  What if AI were wrong?
  How can we recognize errors in artificial intelligence and maintain our critical thinking? 
• November 19, 2026 – Caméo
  What if AI were subjective? Is artificial intelligence
  truly neutral, or does it perpetuate certain biases? 
• February 25, 2027 – Quai 22
  What if AI stole your creations?
  What challenges does generative AI pose in terms of copyright and intellectual property? 
• March 18, 2027 – TRAKK
  What if AI knew you too well?
  What happens to our personal data, and to what extent can AI learn to know us? 

While Elisa De Coster and Aline Nardi coordinate the project, they emphasize that it is, above all, a collaborative effort. The lecture series is led by ten doctoral students from the PReCISE and CRIDS research centers: Elisa De Coster, Adélaïde Couplet, Jules Dejaeghere, Pierre Luycx, Pierre Poitier, Aline Nardi, Alix Gobert, Florian Jacques, Martin Rappe, Lionel Goffaux, and Olga Thiry. Together, they aim to help the general public better understand artificial intelligence, without demonizing it or presenting it as a miracle solution.  

The study was led by Professor Thomas Brochhagen, a researcher in the Computational Linguistics and Linguistic Theory (COLT) group within the Department of Translation and Language Sciences at UPF Barcelona. Co-authors include Xixian Liao (Barcelona Supercomputing Center - Centro Nacional de Supercomputación, BSC-CNS), Jamie D. Wright (Namur Digital Institute, University of Namur and Vrije Universiteit Brussel) and Carmen Saldana (affiliated with UPF and the University of Barcelona).

“My main contribution to the Nature Human Behaviour study was in data analysis and computational modelling. The study is a large-scale, cross-linguistic investigation of how communicative pressures shape language evolution. By analysing data from nearly 2,000 languages, we examined how languages balance two competing pressures: the efficiency gained by reusing the same or similar word forms and the need to avoid ambiguity when concepts could be confused in communication”, explains Jamie Wright.

Jamie Wright’s work with Prof. Katrien Beuls at the Namur Digital Institute forms part of the HERMES programme. This research also examines the communicative pressures that shape language evolution, but from a complementary perspective. 

Researchers from Namur have just published another article in the “Journal of Language Evolution”

“While the Nature Human Behaviour article identifies broad patterns across a large sample of existing languages, our recent article in the Journal of Language Evolution uses an agent-based model to study language evolution at the level of interacting agents. In these simulations, artificial agents develop and use shared languages through repeated communicative exchanges. This allows us to investigate how population-level linguistic conventions emerge from local interactions and why such conventions can make languages more robust, easier to learn and more cognitively efficient.” 

The two studies therefore address closely related questions at different levels and with different methodological approaches. The Nature Human Behaviour study shows the large-scale cross-linguistic consequences of communicative pressures, while the Journal of Language Evolution agent-based study helps explain how such patterns can emerge dynamically through interactions between language users.

 He completed his Master's in Theoretical and Applied Linguistics at Pompeu Fabra University, Barcelona, where he also worked as a research assistant within the COLT research group. His research uses computational modelling and agent-based experiments to investigate language emergence and evolution, with his current work examining how articulatory and acoustic constraints on the production and perception of speech shape linguistic conventions and systems of communication.

Congratulations to the researchers for these publications!

Cited article

Brochhagen, T., Liao, X., Wright, J.D., et al. The interaction of meaning similarity and confusability explains regularity in form–meaning mappings at and below the word level. Nat Hum Behav (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-026-02488-3 

Organized as part of the evaluation of the course “AI: Challenges and Opportunities,” the poster session invited students, working in pairs, to explore a concrete example of AI application within their academic discipline. Objectives? To assess the relevance, limitations, risks, quality of the results produced, and implications for professional, academic, or societal practices.

Open to senior undergraduate students from various faculties, the course “AI: Challenges and Opportunities” has been offered at UNamur for two years and is attracting growing interest. After a first edition that attracted around fifty registrants, the number of students doubled in the second year. “This growth confirms the need for interdisciplinary training on a subject that now cuts across all sectors of society,” notes Benoît Frenay.

The course’s goal is clear: to provide students with a solid foundation for understanding artificial intelligence in both its technical and human dimensions. It encourages them to develop a scientific and nuanced perspective on AI, to understand both its benefits and risks, and to adopt a reflective and responsible approach. 

The course structure combines theoretical reflection with practical application. The poster session is fully in line with this approach: it allows students to present their analyses, compare their perspectives, and demonstrate how AI can be examined from a variety of different disciplines. This assessment focuses on a case study from the student’s field of study, through a critical analysis of a practical case based on the concepts covered in the course.

UNamur has established itself as a key player in the field of artificial intelligence by integrating this topic into its teaching, research, and community service missions. Its institutional approach to AI is based on a comprehensive strategy: fostering critical, responsible, and ethical use of these technologies, driving innovation through interdisciplinary research projects, and supporting society’s stakeholders as they navigate the transformations these technologies bring. 

This ambition is reflected in several concrete initiatives. In addition to the course “AI: Challenges and Opportunities,” the University offers specialized programs in data science, resources to demystify generative AI for educators, and a short university course on artificial intelligence designed for non-specialists, including professionals. UNamur has also established an AI Council and guidelines to support members of its community in the thoughtful use of these tools. Numerous research projects are also dedicated to AI and contribute to UNamur’s unique transdisciplinary expertise in digital technology.

The teaching team’s project had two objectives: to give students hands-on experience with current issues in software quality and to produce an overview that would be useful to academics and professionals in the field. Rather than limiting themselves to analyzing existing practices, the students were fully involved in an applied research project, ranging from the design of a measurement tool to the analysis and dissemination of results. This approach fostered active learning, centered on collaboration, critical thinking, and an understanding of real-world practices in the field.

The project began with an in-depth analysis of the scientific literature and leading international reports on software development. This phase helped identify the key themes to be investigated: team organization, methodologies, testing practices, automation, documentation, artificial intelligence, security, technologies, and developer experience.

Based on this, a 78-question survey was collaboratively developed through an iterative process during joint sessions involving students and faculty. Particular attention was paid to the clarity of the questions, their relevance, and their alignment with the practices observed within various organizations that presented their approaches as part of the course.

The survey was distributed between April and July 2025 to software development professionals in the Wallonia-Brussels Federation through academic and industry networks. A total of 52 respondents from organizations of various sizes and sectors (SMEs, mid-sized companies, large corporations, and the public sector) participated in the study. Once the survey was completed, the collected data underwent rigorous analysis by researchers at the SNAIL laboratory, combining quantitative and qualitative methods, before being synthesized and contextualized in the final report.

The SNAIL Report 2025 provides a structured overview of software development practices in the Wallonia-Brussels Federation. Among the trends highlighted are:

• widespread adoption of Agile approaches;
• a central role for collaborative tools and code reviews;
• widespread use of testing practices and automation via CI/CD pipelines;
• the growing integration of artificial intelligence into development activities;
• as well as persistent challenges regarding the formalization of practices, documentation, security, and training.

The report also highlights the importance of human and organizational factors in software quality, particularly collaboration, accountability, and team autonomy.

Beyond the results presented, this initiative illustrates the value of an educational approach based on the co-construction of knowledge, the close link between teaching and research, and openness to the professional world.

For the students, the project was a formative experience, allowing them to develop technical, methodological, and analytical skills while gaining an understanding of current challenges in software development. For the University of Namur, it is a concrete example of how pedagogical innovations can be leveraged to support teaching and research missions.