The 2nd Interuniversity Debate Championship kicked off in Yerevan.

ArmInfo. The 2nd Inter-University Debate Championship, dedicated to the topic "Preservation of Historical and Cultural Values in the Age of Artificial Intelligence," has kicked off in Yerevan.

An intellectual competition in Russian, organized by the Russian House in Armenia with the support of the Moscow House in Yerevan.

According to the press service of the Russian House in Armenia, the championship opened with the first round, dedicated to historical heritage and historical memory in the context of digitalization.

Addressing the participants, Alexander Novikov, Counselor of the Russian Embassy in Armenia, emphasized the importance of preserving historical memory in the era of new technologies. "History is our roots, it is what our countries and our peoples grow from," he noted.

Speaking about AI, the diplomat drew attention to the dependence of its results on the initial information. Novikov noted that AI initially works with data provided by people, rather than presenting its own thoughts on the matter. According to him, using inherently distorted data can lead to equally distorted conclusions.

The first game featured student teams from four universities: the Armenian State Pedagogical University named after Khachatur Abovyan; the branch of Moscow State University named after M.V. Lomonosov; the Yerevan branch of the Plekhanov Russian University of Economics; and the Russian-Armenian University. The first round consisted of three stages. First, the teams presented prepared reports on the topic "What is more important for the development of international relations—common or national historical memory, and why?" Then they moved on to paired debates, during which they analyzed their opponents' presentations, asked questions, and defended their positions.

The program concluded with free debates: students had to answer a series of questions without preparation, including those from the jury, formulate arguments, evaluate the arguments of other teams, and respond to counterarguments.

The jury included Alexander Bordov, Chairman of the Armenian-Russian Cultural Association; Samvel Danilov, Deputy General Director of the South Caucasus Railway; and Harutyun Khudanyan, a representative of the Institute of History. The team from the Yerevan branch of the Plekhanov Russian University of Economics won the first round.