Dimitris Orfanidis
President of the Court of Appeal, Poet
Join the presentation at https://teams.microsoft.com/meet/39996521260063?p=0RKwozJsNsXfbAE7Jo
Livestreaming: https://youtube.com/live/HEg8mY7Yd3g
Summary:
Moving into the 21st century and assuming no event occurs to disrupt its trajectory, AI will become a phenomenon of our everyday life to the extent that a distorted image of the machine’s “incarnation” will have prevailed in our consciousness. If there is any point in discussing this right now, it lies not in repeating what is presented as seemingly serious—yet is in fact shallow and misleading—but in identifying the essence of the matter. This essence is simple, yet illusions, vested interests, and self-interest conceal it. AI is a product with owners who produce it to sell it. The consequences this bargain will have on the essence of our lives do not concern them. However, they must concern us. Much, perhaps even everything, will depend on our stance. Therefore, we must ask ourselves: What do we want? Why? Whether what we want is genuinely our own desire or suggested to us; if what we want is truly beneficial, how can we achieve it; if it is not, how can we prevent it? In the so-called evolution of AI, the administration of Justice will not remain unaffected, and both society itself and we as judges bear the responsibility of reflecting on this. Do we desire a human or an artificial justice?
Biography
Dimitris Th. Orfanidis was born in 1964 in Thessaloniki. He grew up and currently lives in Athens. He studied Law in Komotini and completed postgraduate studies and a doctoral dissertation in Germany in the field of Labour Law. He practiced law from 1992 to 1994. He has served as a judicial officer since 1995 and currently holds the rank of President of the Court of Appeal.
From 2008 to 2011, he represented Greece in the European Union in the field of Substantive Criminal Law. Since 2004, he has been a regular contributor to the legal press. He is Vice President of the Circle of Greek Literary Judges.
In 2018, he published the essay “The 21st Century of C. P. Cavafy – A Discipline de Vie” (Rodakio Editions). From the Thessaloniki-based publishing house Elkystis, he published the poetry collection “The Society of Sellers” (2018), the novella “Ventriloquist God” (2019), and the poetry collection “Third Cycle of Irrigations” (2020). He has been described as a fully accomplished poet by Vassilis Vassilikos.
Between 2023 and 2025, he delivered two lectures on Dionysios Solomos, six lectures on C. P. Cavafy—one of which took place in Alexandria—and three lectures on artificial intelligence and transhumanism. He has also participated in public events addressing critical issues related to artificial intelligence.
On March 10, 2024, he recited his poetry on the Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation (ERT) radio program “The Poet of the Week”. On March 22, 2025, he was a guest on David Nahmias’s program “In Honor” on ERT’s Third Programme.
In 2022, he published the poetry collection “Cyborg Sapiens”, the first work in Modern Greek literature devoted to artificial intelligence and transhumanism. From Sakkoulas Editions (Thessaloniki), he published the study “The Social Principle and Its Binding Force in the Legal Orders of Globalization” (2020) and, in May 2024, the essay “Homo Sapiens or Cyborg Sapiens? A Legal Order for the Human or the Post-Human?”.
He speaks English, French, German, and Russian.
