On Tuesday, 12 December 2023, the Islamic World Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ICESCO), in cooperation with the International University of Rabat (UIR) in the Kingdom of Morocco, held a workshop titled “The Family in the Era of Artificial Intelligence”, as part of the activities of ICESCO’s Network of Experts in Human and Social Sciences. The workshop aims to examine the challenges of artificial intelligence and its effects on the family in the Islamic world, and to adopt recommendations for guiding public policy in this area.

At the start of the two-day workshop, held at the headquarters of UIR’s Faculty of Social Sciences, Ms. Ramata Almamy Mbaye, Head of ICESCO’s Human and Social Sciences Sector, reviewed the main themes of the workshop, stressing that the Organization attaches great importance to family issues and the artificial intelligence revolution.

In his address, delivered on his behalf by Mr. Anar Karimov, Head of the Organization’s Partnerships and International Cooperation Sector, Dr. Salim M. AlMalik, ICESCO Director General, welcomed the workshop’s theme, which addresses important aspects related to family values and relationships, as well as artificial intelligence, which is a catalyst for change that poses a number of complex challenges and issues. He also stressed the need to examine these challenges and grasp their effects on social and family life.

He called for the preservation of fundamental family values, the ethical use of the opportunities offered by artificial intelligence applications, and the protection of the family and society from the risks it carries.

Dr. Awatef Hayar, Moroccan Minister of Solidarity, Social Inclusion and the Family, addressed the participants in a recorded speech, in which she reviewed Morocco’s efforts to protect the institution of the family and assured that it keeps pace with modern technological developments and harnesses them to ensure the development and stability of society.

The workshop was then opened with an inaugural lecture by Dr. Farid El Asri, Dean of the UIR College of Social Sciences, in which he outlined the main issues and influences facing the family in the age of artificial intelligence.

The first session of the workshop, which examined family forms and courses with the participation of an host of university professors, specialists and international experts, was moderated by Dr. Omar Halli, Advisor to ICESCO Director General for the Federation of the Universities of the Islamic World, while the second session addressed the theme of the family in the face of the artificial intelligence revolution.

On its second day, the workshop will discuss the role of the human and social sciences in policy-making, and examine and adopt recommendations on the organizational and practical methods of ICESCO’s Network of Experts in the Human and Social Sciences.