Putting the World in the Loop — Universities, Communities and Place-Shaped AI

On 25 November 2026, Gábor Soós, Visiting Research Fellow at UNU-CRIS, will address this question at the UNU Macau AI Conference. He will contribute to the panel Agentic AI in the Loop: From Autonomous Tools to Shared Capacity with a presentation entitled Putting the World in the Loop: Place-Shaped AI Companions, Intermodal Fluency and the Ecology of Learning.

The contribution examines the university–community–municipality nexus as a setting for shared inquiry and responsible AI governance. Universities can contribute research and critical reflection; communities bring lived experience, cultural knowledge and local priorities; municipalities connect this inquiry with public responsibilities and decisions. Together, they can help determine which questions AI should address, how its interpretations should be assessed, and who has the authority to correct them.

Drawing on the World-Shaped AI Coalition and the Source2Sea initiative, Gábor will explore how these partnerships can support learning around shared cultural and ecological concerns. His Bartók 4.0 methodology connects field observation, dialogue, digital documentation and AI-assisted interpretation through recurring inquiry and revision. Locally grounded AI companions are considered within this wider ecology of learning, sustained by human relationships and institutional accountability.

The contribution connects with his UNU-CRIS fellowship research, undertaken in collaboration with Nidhi Nagabhatla within the Nature, Climate and Health Cluster. It examines how cooperation among universities, communities and public authorities can connect situated knowledge with governance across localities and regions, particularly around interconnected water systems.

Panel details and conference information