About

I am Octavian M. Machidon, a computer scientist trained in electronics, embedded and reconfigurable computing. I received my PhD in Electronics and Telecommunications from Transilvania University of Brașov, held academic roles in Romania, and worked in ASIC/FPGA verification before joining the University of Ljubljana.

• Assistant Professor, University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Computer and Information Science. I am also a member of the University’s Centre for Human-Centred Artificial Intelligence and the Ethics of New Technologies.
• John Paul II Postdoctoral Fellow (PASS–FASS), Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas — Angelicum, Rome. In collaboration with the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences, I study artificial companionship, agentic AI and human relationships.

I am also a member of the inaugural cohort of the Rights & AI Network (RAIN) at the Schwartz Reisman Institute for Technology and Society, University of Toronto.

I develop adaptive, efficient and privacy-preserving AI for mobile and edge systems, digital health and precision agriculture. My technical work includes context-aware inference, federated learning, sensing and on-device machine learning.

In social computing and computational social science, I compare human and LLM moral judgments, build ethical benchmarks, and study cognition, education, recommender systems and artificial companionship. I use philosophy and theological anthropology to examine dignity, responsibility and limits on delegation. I also have formal academic training in theology.

My research leadership includes:

• Moral Red Lines — Principal Investigator; Future of Life Institute Religions Initiative Grant.
• LLM Ethical Value Alignment — research group leader.
• Theology and Digitalization: Anthropological and Ethical Challenges — institutional Principal Investigator for UL FRI.
• CARDIO-FL — project lead and lead partner, privacy-preserving cardiac monitoring.
• AgriAdapt — Principal Investigator, adaptive AI for precision agriculture.