What can Robotics and AI bring to archaeological theory and practice? In return, how can archaeology contribute to the developments in robotics and AI research? Colleagues tackled these questions at an event organised by the Faculty of Archaeology and sponsored by SAILS.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has great potential for healthcare, but it is not always clear in what way, and many healthcare professionals are still reluctant to use AI. On June 28, the ‘Demystifying AI in Healthcare’ symposium aimed to improve this issue. Different professionals in the field went beyond…

The more opportunities a child has to learn and develop, the stronger his or her future position in society. Leiden University investigates how the brain picks up information, and how learning processes can be influenced positively.

How can you increase the effectiveness of inspectors using responsible artificial intelligence (AI)? This is the question the Innovation Center for Artificial Intelligence (ICAI) Lab AI4Oversight is tackling. By developing algorithms and methods, they try to provide optimal support for, for example,…

Europe falls behind China and the United States in the field of artificial intelligence (AI), which creates a brain drain for talented students and scientists. A high standard research institute for AI can turn the tide, claims initiator Holger Hoos, Professor of Machine Learning.

It’s all hands on deck at the moment to resolve the COVID-19 crisis. Researchers from various disciplines are helping where they can, also from the field of artificial intelligence (AI). AI offers great opportunities both at the frontline of the crisis and in its expected aftermath. Leiden professor…

The Digital Legal Talks (DLT) conference is part of the Dutch Sector Plan Law, which is a key component of the broader Sector Plan Social Sciences and Humanities (SSH). This initiative represents a collaborative effort between Tilburg University, the University of Amsterdam, Radboud University Nijmegen,…

Barrie Sander identifies different categories of risks and concern of relying on artificial intelligence technologies to confront climate change.

Carlotta Rigotti, Postdoc researcher at eLaw, participated in the ‘Intersectional Fairness in AI: Legal Frameworks, Tools, and Learning Opportunities’ webinar on 10 December 2024.

To develop a new generation of brain science (and train scientists) focused on explaining complex real-world behavioural patterns.

This interdisciplinary study focuses on (trans)national ethnic and popular networks, combining historical-ethnographic and computational methods to understand the ‘workings’ of networked conflict interfering in the increasingly violent conflict in the Sahel (Africa) and beyond. The project focuses on…

A consortium made up of Leiden University (Institute of Public Administration/Digitalisation & Public Policy, Bram Klievink, Sarah Giest, Bart Schermer), VU (Professor Fabio Massacci), TU Delft, TNO, and Thales has been awarded a NWO grant of 1.5 million euros. This research project looks into the ‘metadata…

Staff from eLaw – Center for Law and Digital Technologies contributed to the ACM Conference on Fairness, Accountability, and Transparency (FAccT), held in Athens from 25 to 27 June 2025. The ACM FAccT conference is one of the world’s leading venues for interdisciplinary research on responsible and ethical…

LAK creative courses is part of Leiden University and can be found in the Lipsius building on the Cleveringaplaats. The abbreviation "LAK" stands for Leids Academisch Kunstcentrum (Leiden Academic Art Center)

On 5 September, Elize de Mul defended the thesis 'Digital Döppelgangers: identity in the Culture of Imagination'. The doctoral research was supervised by Simone van der Hof and Esther Keymolen.

Just imagine new AI technology is able to read human emotions flawlessly. How would that affect us as humans? That is the question PhD candidate Alexandra Prégent is exploring.

To tackle deepfakes, Denmark proposes expanding copyright law so everyone gets copyright over their own face and voice. There are similar ideas in the Netherlands with an online consultation. In Latvian newspaper ‘Latvijas Avīze’, Dirk Visser and Bart Custers discuss the proposals.

‘In the field of AI, Leiden is still a relatively unseen university,’ says Thomas Dohmen. The brand-new Director AI Collaboration Center, would like to forge a Leiden AI collaboration network, with sustainable and impactful relationships between the university and civil society organisations. The question…

Scientific staff of the Mathematical Institute organises the General Mathematics Colloquium several times a year.

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Groenlinks-PvdA has reported two PVV MPs to police for spreading fake images of party leader Frans Timmermans. Bart Schermer spoke to the Volkskrant about the AI images: 'Freedom of speech ends when you threaten others with violence or incite violence.'

eLaw reflects on a very successful turnout at this year's 17th edition of the annual CPDP Conference in Brussels. This year, the conference was rebranded as CPDP.ai in order to draw attention to AI regulation and governance beyond privacy.

Audiovisual and Digital Ethnography is a state-of-the-art introduction to this dynamic and growing subject. The authors explain its fundamental aspects in a clear and systematic way.

The interdisciplinary AI & Society minor of Leiden University brings together students and lecturers from a wide range of disciplines. Together they look at the impact of AI on society. Students are enthusiastic about this merging of worlds.

On 13 May 2025, Melanie Fink presented her latest research on the role of the duty to reason and other explanation rights to safeguard human dignity in the automated state at the AI & Law Summer School hosted by the University of Tübingen.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is often portrayed as a technological saviour for addressing climate change. But there are risks associated with its use, observes Barrie Sander.

What can we learn from the diverse institutional logics of smart government in East Asia to inform cross-institutional AI governance?

On October 14, the first symposium of the university-wide initiative SAILS took place. Scientists from Leiden University and other Dutch universities came together to share their enthusiasm and expertise in the field of Artificial Intelligence in a festive symposium, in the atmospheric Museum of Eth…

This inaugural lecture discusses the question: How to cooperate in the digital era?

While self-driving cars and autonomous weapon systems have received a great deal of attention in media and research, the general requirements of ethical life in today’s digitalizing reality have not been made sufficiently visible and evaluable.

How can AI shape future wearables for population dynamics? This question made the underlying theme of the 8th Wearables in Practice Symposium, which took place on the 14th of October in Leiden.

Researchers at eLaw contribute to groundbreaking volume on AI in radiology, offering legal and ethical frameworks, governance models, and solutions for responsible clinical integration.

Following the news that TomTom is cutting 300 jobs due to the use of artificial intelligence (AI), FGGA researchers Friso Selten and Alex Ingrams responded with opinion pieces. They place the news in a broader context and call for a more nuanced debate on AI and job losses.

This regulation – also known as the AI Act – aims to ensure that AI systems sold and used in the EU are safe and consistent with existing fundamental rights legislation and Union values. AI harvests its factual material on the Internet, but in some cases it can be misleading. This is sufficient reason…

The development of smart cars, video games that adapt to your gaming behaviour, law enforcement assigning your neighbourhood a risk score, insurance rates determined by your behaviour, finding your perfect match via an app: Artificial Intelligence (AI) is rapidly and radically transforming our interactions…

In this article, Barrie Sander together with his colleagues explore whether fairness in digital governance inadvertently entrenches structural inequalities

The Asser Institute organised an interdisciplinary conference on ‘Law and ethics of artificial intelligence in the public sector: From principles to practice and policy’ that took place from 10 to 11 March 2022. Melanie Fink presented a paper co-authored with Michèle Finck.

The abundance of images in our everyday lives-and the speed at which they are consumed-seems to have left us unable to critique them. To rectify this situation, artists such as Daniel Richter, Jaune Quick-to-See Smith, and Artur Zmijewski have demonstrated that painting is brilliantly equipped to produce…

This dissertation explores how we can make anomaly detection—identifying unusual or faulty behavior in complex systems—more trustworthy and effective, with a focus on smart manufacturing.

Stephan Raaijmakers has been Professor of Communicative AI since 1 May. Prior to this, he had held this position for five years as professor by special appointment. How has his approach to AI changed in that time?

This PhD project investigates how automatic sign language recognition technology can be further developed to analyse static images and textual descriptions of signs.

Better pay and new agreements with streaming platforms: the actors’ strike that brought Hollywood to a standstill a few days ago is mainly about money. But there is something else that film actors are worried about: the increasing use of Artificial Intelligence. Is this fear justified?

From deepfakes and disinformation to killer robots, surgical robots and AI lawmaking: AI (Artificial Intelligence) is changing our world. That raises the question whether this requires some form of regulation. At eLaw, the Center for Law and Digital Technologies at Leiden University, prof. Bart Custers…

Generative AI presents journalists with new options for image use but also raises ethical questions.

‘Our health is the area that stands to gain most from artificial intelligence.’ The three universities in Zuid-Holland are helping make these gains. Three researchers talk about their collaborative research into AI for health, drug discovery and healthcare in the AI knowledge cluster in Zuid-Holland.…