KIT Science Week 2021 - Artificial Intelligence and Human Learning Systems

From October 5 to 10, 2021, the KIT Science Week will celebrate its premiere. Researchers from all over the world, actors from politics and industry, and citizens from Karlsruhe and the region are invited to immerse into the world of artificial intelligence, AI for short. This new type of event of Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) will offer diverse access to AI and open rooms for discourse. KIT, for its part, will receive impetus for its research agenda.

Robots taking over assembly tasks or helping in disaster response. Assistance systems supporting the diagnosis of diseases. Chatbots giving advice at the customer service center. Self-driving cars. All these are learning systems that increasingly enter our lives.

From October 5 to 10, 2021, the KIT Science Week will give experts from science, industry, politics, and culture, and in particular the interested public the opportunity to exchange ideas and opinions. Citizens are invited to experience and create artificial intelligence. The idea of the KIT Science Week was born while drafting the successful proposal for university of excellence funding. "Excellent science needs dialog," the President of KIT, Professor Holger Hanselka, emphasizes. "In line with our leitmotif "Living the Change," KIT shares its research, academic education, and innovation in the area of artificial intelligence with the society. As "The Research University in the Helmholtz Association," we wish to make essential contributions to solving urgent global challenges in the fields of energy, mobility, information, and sustainability," Hanselka continues. "We will only succeed, if we find new ways to reach the people."

From Escape Room to Citizen Dialog - Participative and Interactive Events

The KIT Science Week represents a new participative and interactive type of event organized by KIT and partners. Under the heading "The Human Being in the Center of Learning Systems," citizens from Karlsruhe and the region will be given the opportunity to meet and talk to leading international researchers. The KIT Science Week will combine a scientific conference on AI-related topics for renowned researchers from all over the world with events for citizens and the interested community. The public is invited to join innovative online events, such as Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) or escape rooms.

They can visit laboratories of KIT, attend workshops or dialog events, and experience artificial intelligence and applications of AI-based technologies and innovations. At discussions of prominently staffed panels, citizens dialogs, ZAK talks, and the TEDxKIT event, people are invited to ask questions and to reflect on opportunities and risks of learning systems.

"Even more than before, we would like to establish KIT as a research university anchored in society and plan to extend successful means of public participation," says Professor Thomas Hirth, KIT's Vice-President for Innovation and International Affairs. "As one of the eleven Universities of Excellence in Germany, we rely not only on excellent science and academic education, but also on advancing research, teaching, and innovation through exchange with society."

AI and Learning Systems for the Benefit of Society

The KIT Science Week was part of KIT's proposal for the university of excellence and builds on KIT's real-world labs. At these laboratories, KIT and the urban community test and optimize scientifically excellent and viable technologies for autonomous driving, humanoid robotics, and sustainable climate protection.

The KIT Science Week on artificial intelligence and learning systems is based on the idea that all citizens can participate in shaping research, technologies, and innovations with their knowledge, their interests, and their experiences. KIT's researchers, teachers, and students plan to use the input received during this week for their research work, the overall goal being to sound out how AI and AI-based learning systems can be designed to benefit society.

For more information, a video, and the program of the KIT Science Week, click: https://www.scienceweek.kit.edu/english/index.php

Being "The Research University in the Helmholtz Association", KIT creates and imparts knowledge for the society and the environment. It is the objective to make significant contributions to the global challenges in the fields of energy, mobility, and information. For this, about 9,600 employees cooperate in a broad range of disciplines in natural sciences, engineering sciences, economics, and the humanities and social sciences. KIT prepares its 23,300 students for responsible tasks in society, industry, and science by offering research-based study programs. Innovation efforts at KIT build a bridge between important scientific findings and their application for the benefit of society, economic prosperity, and the preservation of our natural basis of life. KIT is one of the German universities of excellence.