French Embassy invites Braga Media Arts to a debate about Artificial Intelligence

Representing Braga as a UNESCO Creative City in the field of Media Arts, Joana Miranda participated in a panel dedicated to artificial intelligence (AI). At the invitation of Hélène Farnaud-Defromont, Ambassador of France to Portugal, Braga Media Arts took part in a Portuguese–French debate held at the French Embassy, bringing together representatives from the business, institutional, academic, and cultural sectors of both countries.

The second round table addressed artificial intelligence as a disruptive technology with far-reaching impacts on social behaviour, economic activity, and legal frameworks. The discussions highlighted the scale and diversity of the challenges facing public authorities, particularly in the areas of industrial policy, regulation of uses, diplomacy, education, and culture.

While recognising the significant opportunities associated with artificial intelligence, Joana Miranda underlined that AI is not a neutral technology, either in its development or in its applications, and that it entails an inherent political dimension. Her intervention emphasised the strategic role of cultural organisations as intermediaries between technological experimentation, public engagement, and collective imagination. In this context, she stressed that culture contributes to making invisible infrastructures visible, translating complex and abstract debates into shared experiences, and creating spaces for critical reflection on the societal impacts of technology before they become irreversible.

The debate further underlined the need to strengthen citizen education through the full integration of the cultural dimension, as well as to promote international governance of artificial intelligence based on common standards and shared principles.

Moderated by Diane Fattelay, Head of the Lisbon Economic Service, and Mathilde Vanackere, Advisor for Cooperation and Cultural Action and Director of the French Institute in Portugal, the discussions brought together, in addition to Joana Miranda, Caroline Jouan Pons, David Magboulé, Priscila Saba, Grégoire Lepault, Rui Pedro Duarte, and Tiago Cunha Martins.