What will Engineer Luís Paulo Reis address?
Abstract: The rapid evolution of Artificial Intelligence, particularly generative AI and large language models, is profoundly transforming education and challenging the sustainability of traditional teaching models. This lecture analyses how AI alters knowledge production, learning processes, and the role of educators, shifting the focus from content transmission to the development of critical thinking, problem-solving, and higher-order human skills.
As AI systems increasingly generate text, code, and solutions of human-comparable quality, traditional evaluation methods based on the final product become insufficient. This necessitates a transition towards approaches centred on the process, argumentation, and intellectual autonomy.
Furthermore, ethical, cognitive, and pedagogical challenges will be discussed, including overreliance on technology, risks to academic integrity, and the need for AI literacy. Based on current trends—such as generative models, Retrieval-Augmented Generation, and adaptive systems—it is argued that education is not coming to an end, but rather undergoing a profound structural transformation. This demands a responsible integration of AI that complements, rather than replaces, human development.
Biography: Luís Paulo Reis is an Associate Professor with Habilitation at the Faculty of Engineering of the University of Porto (FEUP), in Portugal, and Director of LIACC – Artificial Intelligence and Computer Science Laboratory. He is a Senior Member of the IEEE, a certified PMP professional by PMI, and has served as President of the SPR – Portuguese Robotics Society and President of the APPIA – Portuguese Association for Artificial Intelligence. He has been the principal investigator in over 20 research projects in the fields of artificial intelligence, robotics, machine learning, multi-agent systems, simulation, and educational/serious games. He has successfully supervised to completion 26 doctoral theses and 180 master's dissertations in these fields. He has served as an evaluator for proposals and projects in the European programmes FP6, FP7, Horizon 2020, and Horizon Europe, as well as in national programmes for the FCT and ANI. He has been an invited speaker at dozens of international conferences and has organised over 60 international scientific events. He has received more than 70 awards for academic, scientific, or pedagogical merit. He is the author of over 500 scientific publications in international journals and conferences.