Human and machine, possibilities and morality

Artificial intelligence (AI) is playing a more important role in the course of Industry 4.0 and digitalisation. Nevertheless, AI is still in parts a term that stimulates intense discussions in public discourse, which also causes unease among the population. Perhaps not least because there are insufficient or diffuse ideas about it. For example, there is the image of robots that will one day be more intelligent than humans, and there is the fear of losing one's job because robots could completely replace humans.

As part of a two-part webtalk series, we want to discuss what is actually behind AI and discuss current issues related to research, industry and business. In this first part of the series, the scientist Prof. Dr. Kristian Kersting, Professor of Machine Learning at TU Darmstadt will give an overview of the possibilities of AI in general and discuss the question of the "morality of machines" in conversation with the journalist Meinhard Schmidt-Degenhard. How does AI work? Can artificial intelligence be taught morality at all? And if so, how? In the second part (date: 28 April 2021), Bettina Stark-Watzinger, member of the Bundestag, will talk with Professor Kersting, among others, about the current importance of AI for our society, the opportunities it offers and the changes it will bring to the world of work. What is the current state of basic research - and, following on from that, of research funding? What opportunities does AI offer in the start-up environment?

You can follow their conversation on Youtube (German)