Conference review
International conference “Communications, Media and Education in the Paradigm of New Technologies and Artificial Intelligence”
The fifth anniversary international conference “Communications, Media and Education in the Paradigm of New Technologies and Artificial Intelligence” brought together 115 scholars from 13 countries
For the fifth consecutive year, the Faculty of Journalism and Mass Communication organized the International Scientific Conference “Communication and Media in the 21st Century.” In 2024, the forum took place on October 24 and 25. The theme of the conference was “Communications, Media and Education in the Paradigm of New Technologies and Artificial Intelligence.” The event was dedicated to the 50th anniversary of the establishment of the Faculty of Journalism and Mass Communication as an independent unit within Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski.”
Academic partners of the International Conference included prestigious foreign universities: Eastern Kentucky University, USA; the Polytechnic Institute of Lisbon, Portugal; Vilnius University, Lithuania; the University of Bucharest, Romania; and Vytautas Magnus University, Lithuania.
Over the course of two days, 115 representatives of the global academic and institutional community took part in the event, including 40 participants from abroad and 75 from Bulgaria.
The plenary session began at 10:00 a.m. Bulgarian time with the official opening of the conference by Prof. Vesselina Valkanova, PhD, Dean of the Faculty of Journalism and Mass Communication. In her address, Prof. Valkanova welcomed the participants and expressed her satisfaction that the conference had brought together leading researchers, scholars, lecturers, and practitioners in the field of media and communications, as well as her admiration for the impressive academic programme dedicated to key topics in the development of media, communications, and journalism education in the 21st century.
Prof. Valkanova paid special attention to artificial intelligence, which had emerged as a dominant theme in the research presented at the conference. She emphasized that contemporary higher education was facing both the privileges and the risks of coexisting with the rise of artificial intelligence as a key factor in various social spheres. With the growth of technological advancement and the increasingly widespread use of AI, it appeared that countless possibilities were opening up, requiring a significant shift toward the new realities of the digital age in which we live. For that reason, it was not surprising that AI would inevitably change the way higher education functions. Artificial intelligence thus had enormous potential to transform education by making it more personalized, accessible, and effective. From adaptive learning pathways to virtual reality experiences and predictive analytics, AI technologies could revolutionize the way students learn, grow, and succeed. By embracing AI in education, we could equip students with the skills and knowledge they need to thrive in a future that increasingly relies on technological progress.
Prof. Valkanova also expressed the view that, despite the growing interest in the subject, the impact of generative artificial intelligence on the news industry and on our information environment, namely the public sphere, remained insufficiently explored. Too little attention had also been paid to the consequences of the news industry’s dependence on AI technology companies. The growing use of AI in news work was shifting the balance of power toward technology companies, raising concerns about potential threats to publishers’ autonomous business models, especially those relying on search-driven traffic. AI was expected to play a transformative role in restructuring news work, from editorial processes to the business side of media organizations. As news organizations were being transformed under the influence of AI, public communication as a whole was changing as well, although it remained vital for democracy and although news organizations continued to play a crucial watchdog role within it.
At the end of her speech, Prof. Valkanova welcomed the participants in the plenary session and introduced the researchers who took part in it.
The floor was then given to Ms. Nadia Visers, Director of the European Journalism Training Association (EJTA). Ms. Visers greeted the participants and expressed her pleasure at attending an event dedicated to such a significant anniversary as the 50th anniversary of the Faculty of Journalism and Mass Communication, noting that few journalism institutes could boast such a rich history. She pointed out that the Faculty had always participated actively in international projects and that its students were still actively engaged in various project activities.
Ms. Visers also congratulated the organizers on their choice of the central topic of the event: the impact of artificial intelligence on both the journalism profession and communication education. In her view, the most important task at present was to define ethical frameworks for the use of AI, because society as a whole, and journalists in particular, should control the technology rather than the other way around. Technology, she argued, should add value to media content, while the media themselves should continue to uphold democratic principles and at the same time act as watchdogs against disinformation.
Greetings were also delivered by Mr. Fernando Ojea, Secretary General of CIRCOM Regional, the European Association of Regional Television, who likewise highlighted the need for ethical regulation of the use of AI in the work of communication professionals. In recent years, for example, European regional media had demonstrated remarkable progress in making use of the opportunities provided by new technologies. The institutions of the European Union had also played an important role by working intensively toward the creation of regulatory principles in this field. Even more important, however, was the existence of public guidelines for the use of AI in various areas of everyday life.
The plenary session was moderated by Assoc. Prof. Manuela Manliherova, PhD. The discussion was opened by a research team from Saarland University in Germany, consisting of Prof. Astrid Fellner, Eva Nostem, and Dr. Yulia Stodolinska, whose presentation focused on the integration of AI-based text generators into university education. The researchers emphasized not only the importance of incorporating such text generators, but also the need for students to be trained to acquire the skills necessary to work with AI as part of developing a comprehensive capacity for critical thinking.
The plenary session concluded with a presentation by Ms. Elitsa Stoilova, founder and manager of Umni.bg, the first Bulgarian platform for AI-based digital assistants. Ms. Stoilova stressed that she was speaking first and foremost as a graduate of the Faculty of Journalism and Mass Communication, and only then as a representative of the AI industry. A main focus of her presentation was the change in user behavior and attitudes resulting from the development of digital technologies and the growing presence of AI. Audiences, she noted, were showing less and less patience for stories; people still needed news, but increasingly contented themselves with reading only the headlines. Ms. Stoilova put forward the hypothesis that greater attention should be paid to the impact of these changes on the ways in which the human brain perceives the surrounding environment.
The conference then continued with the regular panels held in Bulgarian and English as working languages.