Can artificial intelligence transform the process of scientific discovery without losing sight of ethical responsibility, open data, and cultural impact?

Ireland's national AI research and innovation network, Rinn Artificial Intelligence (Rinn AI) is partnering with the 2026 AI in Science Summit (AIS26) to address the complex questions around AI in scientific research and beyond.

Rinn AI unites Ireland's top experts across all 13 Irish universities, combining foundational and applied scientific and humanities research with data infrastructure through which they can address the challenges and opportunities at the intersection of technological breakthrough and ethics – particularly how to keep AI just, transparent and open.

Director of Rinn AI, Prof Noel O'Connor said: “The AI in Science Summit is where technological innovation meets fundamental scientific discovery. As Director of Rinn Artificial Intelligence, I see our partnership with the summit not merely as an opportunity for collaboration but as an essential national contribution to shaping the future of research. By joining forces with the summit, we are uniting top-tier talent and cutting-edge resources to ensure that AI-driven science develops ethically, collaboratively, and at the scale needed to solve some of the world's most complex challenges."

Rinn AI is collaborating with ELLIS to co-curate the 'Science for AI' parallel conference track at AIS26. As the summit brings together scientists, industry leaders, investors and policymakers to explore the transformative impact of artificial intelligence on scientific discovery, Rinn AI is an apt partner, representing a collaborative and multidisciplinary AI research community. The centre comprises expertise from all of Ireland's leading universities and RPOs, working to help deliver on the promise of AI for Irish society and industry.

Rinn AI Co-Lead at UCD and 'Foundational Methods' cluster lead within the centre, Prof Brian Mac Namee said: "Collaborating with the AI in Science Summit gives us an amazing opportunity to bring leaders from across Europe, and beyond, to UCD in Dublin to discuss the future of AI and plan how research by Rinn AI researchers and collaborators around the world will shape this."

Principal Investigator in Rinn AI and 'Culture, Analytics and Society' cluster lead, Prof Gerardine Meany said: “The AI in Science Summit is a unique opportunity to engage in dialogue with policy makers, academics and industry about the impact of AI on society and culture, to identify how that impact can be informed by and empower research and creativity. It is vital for us to collaboratively develop a framework to ensure this technology is used justly and productively and the humanities have a crucial role to play in that development.”

Rinn AI Principal Investigators (PIs) are actively supporting the design of the AIS26 programme. Prof Brian Mac Namee, of UCD School of Computer, leads the collaboration with ELLIS to curate the 'Science for AI' track which will explore how the scientific discovery process itself can be empowered by AI, and the cutting-edge advances in foundational AI research that will shape the next decades.

Prof Gerardine Meaney, UCD School of English, Drama and Film, is collaborating with AIS26 and partners European Alliance for Social Sciences and Humanities (EASSH) on 'AI for Creativity and Society.' This track will investigate the changing landscape of human-AI collaboration in creative work, reflect on how social scientists and humanities scholars have used AI to date and outline opportunities to continue contributing to the development of AI 'Fit for a Just Society.'

Prof Edward Curry, Rinn AI 'Data and Processing' cluster lead, also Director of the Data Science Institute at University of Galway and Vice-President of the Big Data Value Association (BDVA), is working with the Research Data Alliance (RDA) to curate 'Open Science and Data for the Era of AI Research'. This track will explore key issues including preparing data for AI, the need for data infrastructure at AI scale, and understanding the power dynamics and control over the compute, the data, and the models that research infrastructure depends on.

Coordinated by UCD and Taighde Éireann-Research Ireland, AIS26 is the flagship EU conference driving the implementation of the European Strategy on AI in Science; and Rinn AI will be a critical player in the development of European AI strategy in the coming decade.

The ambition and scale of Rinn AI is the result of over a decade's work building national AI research capacity that finds and connects talent around mission-critical projects for our society and economy. Rinn AI expands Ireland's AI research base, combining the talent of over 288 co-applicants and PIs who are internationally recognised leaders and rising stars in the Irish research ecosystem. The result is a truly national centre with the critical mass to address some of the most pressing issues of our time.

Rinn AI is projected to generate over €2 billion for the economy, create more than 6,000 jobs, secure over 100 intellectual property licenses and patents and spin-out 25 companies - many of which are expected to achieve high-performance start-up status. For industry, Rinn AI represents a large-scale platform for bespoke research projects, Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) programme participation, along with access to national testbeds, sandboxes and joint industry-academic labs.

Beyond this economic impact, Rinn AI has the broad-based expertise to address critical ethical challenges such as bias, misinformation and data privacy, ensuring that data science and AI technologies are deployed responsibly and inclusively. The Rinn AI research programme's challenge-based framework will allow complex, interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary issues to be tackled, providing actionable solutions to national and European priorities.

With well-established and robust connections to European and international research networks, such as ELLIS, Fraunhofer in Germany and the Stanford Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence (HAI) among many others, Rinn AI will enhance Ireland's position as a leader in ethical and human-centred data science and AI.

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Taking place in Dublin on 15-16 October, AIS26 is an official Irish Presidency of the Council of the European Union event and the flagship summit of European AI Innovation Month.

Attendance is free, please register your interest to attend here: https://www.ais26.eu/