More than 700 computer science professionals and students attended the national computer science conference on Thursday to discuss the field's future amid the changes brought about by artificial intelligence.
Organized by the Ben-Gurion University of the Negev's Stein Faculty of Computer and Information Science, the conference also marked the faculty's one-year anniversary, established in 2025.
The conference also featured the launch of the Israeli Computer Science Association, which aims to establish a national framework for Israel's academic and professional computer science community.
The association seeks to strengthen ties between institutions, promote conferences and community initiatives, and develop position papers on issues affecting the future of computer science in Israel.
For its first two years, the association will be managed by Ben-Gurion University. Its leadership is then expected to rotate among Israeli universities.
The conference also featured the presentation of the association's first awards for outstanding research achievements.
The awards committee, chaired by Prof. Yuval Filmus, selected four recipients, including Dr. Haggai Maron of the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, Dr. Oded Padon of the Weizmann Institute of Science, Dr. Yuval Dagan of Tel Aviv University, and Dr. Liat Peterfreund of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
Mobileye CEO Prof. Amnon Shashua also attended the conference and delivered a guest lecture on the development of machine intelligence and its impact on scientists, researchers, and experts.
AI doesn't make computers obsolete, Israeli expert says
"Artificial intelligence does not make computer science obsolete. It is ushering in the golden age of the field," said Prof. Shakhar Smorodinsky, head of the Institute for the Theory of Computing at Ben-Gurion University's Stein Faculty of Computer and Information Science and chairman of the Israeli Computer Science Association.
"Writing code is only one part of computer science. As AI tools become better at writing code, the ability to define problems, develop algorithms, design systems, verify correctness and safety, and understand the limitations of the models themselves becomes increasingly important," Smorodinsky said.
"It is precisely in the age of artificial intelligence that Israel needs greater scientific depth, not less."
Smorodinsky also emphasized the need to establish a shared framework for Israel's computer science community.
"The establishment of the association provides Israel's computer science community with a shared framework for cooperation and for expressing a professional voice on issues relating to research, teaching, and national policy. We want to connect researchers from all institutions, identify shared needs, and promote initiatives that the entire community can benefit from," he said.
"We believe that the new association and the conference we established will strengthen the modern understanding of computer science as a broad, diverse, and dynamic field, and we intend to make this event a tradition," said Prof. Ariel Felner, conference organizer and deputy dean of Ben-Gurion University's Faculty of Computer and Information Science.