September 2024 – AI in Education, Diplomacy and Cross-Border Collaboration

September 2024 marked a strategic pivot across European AI policy and innovation hubs. With the summer break over, governments and institutions reignited efforts in AI education, international alignment, and public sector modernization. This month also saw stronger coordination between EU states on ethical frameworks and joint ventures.

European Union: EU AI Skills Pact Announced

On September 4, 2024, the European Commission launched the AI Skills Pact, a Europe-wide commitment to reskill 1 million workers in AI-related fields by 2027. It supports universities, technical colleges, and companies offering AI certification and job placement programs. More details are available on the EU Digital Skills and Jobs platform.

Italy: AI in High Schools National Program

Italy’s Ministry of Education rolled out its first nationwide program to teach AI fundamentals in high schools starting September 11, offering modules on ethics, machine learning, and prompt design. The curriculum includes materials from IAItalia.gov.it and partnerships with universities.

Malta: AI Diplomacy Forum

On September 14, Valletta hosted the first Mediterranean AI Diplomacy Forum, bringing together policymakers from Malta, Italy, Greece, and Tunisia to discuss cross-border data governance and cultural diversity in AI training sets. Full highlights are available via gov.mt.

Spain: Launch of AI Procurement Guidelines

Spain published its official AI Public Procurement Guidelines on September 15, detailing how state entities can assess the risk, ethical impact, and lifecycle of AI systems before purchasing or deploying them.

Portugal: National Center for AI Ethics

On September 18, Portugal launched its National AI Ethics Center in Lisbon, focused on AI impact assessment, social inclusion, and policy advisory services. The center is funded through the EU’s Horizon Europe program and hosts monthly stakeholder roundtables.

Greece: University Partnership on AI in Healthcare

The University of Athens and Aristotle University of Thessaloniki began a new joint research project on AI in predictive healthcare on September 20. Backed by the Ministry of Health, the project will explore chronic disease prediction models with a special focus on aging populations.

Turkey: Istanbul Tech Week Highlights AI and Robotics

Held from September 25–28, Istanbul Tech Week 2024 showcased AI in robotics, fintech, and security systems. The event attracted over 30,000 attendees and hosted delegations from 11 countries. Key highlights included a Turkish-Italian startup accelerator and the AI Ethics Sandbox Pilot.

OpenAI rolled out “Memory 2.0” for ChatGPT Plus, announced on September 26, offering users better control over what the AI remembers — ideal for long-term projects, recurring tasks, and personal coaching assistants.

🧠 Trending AI Tools – September 2024

The following tools dominated usage and innovation discussions in September:

ChatGPT Memory 2.0 – Improved control over long-term context and task tracking.
Gamma.app – Used in education ministries and EU forums for briefing creation.
Claude 2.1 (Anthropic) – Especially popular for collaborative writing and cross-cultural dialogues.
Humata AI – Research tool for multi-document scientific reviews.
HeyGen – Used at Istanbul Tech Week for multilingual public service videos.
Leonardo AI – New dataset visualizations for government presentations.
Perplexity AI – Expanded features for European legislation search and summaries.
Synthesia – AI avatars used by NGOs and civil service in multilingual awareness campaigns.
Tavily – Upgraded to support simultaneous search in English, Spanish, Turkish, and Greek.
DeepL Write – Popular among civil servants for policy paper drafting in clear and precise English.