Vice Rector Zhou Wanlei delivers a keynote speech in 8th International Conference on Blockchain, Artificial Intelligence, and Trustworthy Systems

The 8^th International Conference on Blockchain, Artificial Intelligence, and Trustworthy Systems (BlockSys 2026) was held in Chengdu yesterday. Professor Zhou Wanlei, vice rector of City University of Macau (CityU), attended the opening ceremony and delivered a keynote speech on “Compatibility between ethics and security for large language models”. This year’s conference is co-organized by the University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, the School of Artificial Intelligence of Nanyang Normal University, Dongguan University of Technology, Shanghai UniSentry Intelligent Technology Co., Ltd., and Sichuan Talent Development Group Co., Ltd., bringing together top researchers, industry experts, and university researchers from around the world to discuss the latest advances and real-world applications in blockchain, artificial intelligence (AI), and trustworthy systems.

During the keynote session, Vice Rector Zhou Wanlei reviewed the security vulnerabilities hidden in large language models (LLMs) at the data, algorithm, system, and industry-application. He pointed out that ethical issues such as algorithmic bias and discriminatory outputs may cause direct economic losses and long-term negative social impacts. He highlighted three inevitable real-world challenges in current model development:

First, the industry still lacks a quantifiable and practical comprehensive evaluation mechanism, making it difficult to build models that meet both ethical and safety standards from the start of research and development;
Second, most existing technical solutions tend to focus on either ethical constraints or protective mechanisms alone, and the two often hinder each other, making dynamic balance hard to achieve;
Third, the technical barrier is too high for ordinary users to tell whether model outputs are fair and reliable, which directly affects market acceptance of trustworthy AI.

In response to these common industry challenges, Vice Rector Zhou highlighted the CityU’s research findings in AI security. CityU has long focused on model fairness, privacy protection, attack defense, and machine unlearning, building a solid theoretical foundation and mature technical solutions. He mentioned that these efforts provide strong support for solving the problem of balancing ethical norms and security protection in large models, and for building highly trustworthy AI systems. Vice Rector Zhou stressed that LLMs are the core driver of digital transformation, but technological development must not cross the lines of ethics and safety. AI governance is a global issue that requires cooperation among academia, industry, and regulators across countries to build a safe and controllable AI ecosystem.

After the speech, participating scholars and engineers delved into practical issues such as scenario balance tuning and model verification.

BlockSys 2026 aimed to build a comprehensive platform for discussing the integration and impact of these transformative technologies. The conference featured a diverse range of topics, including blockchain protocols, AI algorithms, system security, privacy-preserving technologies, and trust management frameworks. Through keynote speeches, technical sessions, and panel discussions, participants engaged in in-depth exploration of how these technologies can drive innovation, enhance security, and address critical challenges in various domains.

CityU has long been committed to fundamental research and technological innovation in AI, and actively participates in international frontier academic governance. With solid research foundations, diverse academic perspectives and practical technical outcomes, it provided insights into tackling the industry challenge of balancing ethics and security in LLMs. Looking ahead, CityU will remain at the forefront of academic research, stay close to industry needs, deepen its scientific exploration and international cooperation in AI security and ethics governance, and fulfill its mission as a higher education and research institution. The goal is to empower the development of a safe, orderly, open, inclusive, and sustainable global AI industry ecosystem.

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Vice Rector Zhou Wanlei delivers a keynote speech in 8th International Conference on Blockchain, Artificial Intelligence, and Trustworthy Systems

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