News Category: Direktdurchwahl Podcast

Very different perspectives on Cyber Valley emerge from a street survey and interviews with Stuttgart cognitive researcher Prof. Maria Wirzberger, Tübingen professor of machine learning Matthias Hein and PhD student Auguste Schulz. The seventh episode of Direktdurchwahl is now online.

About Direktdurchwahl

The anniversary podcast episode is now online on Spotify, Deezer, Amazon Music/Audible as well as Google Podcasts – and also on Apple Podcasts and YouTube. In addition, horads 88.6, the campus radio station for the Stuttgart/Ludwigsburg region, broadcasts the podcast every second Sunday at 14:00.

In our podcast, we clarify what artificial intelligence (AI) scientists are researching. We also present what AI can’t do (yet) or where special challenges currently exist in research and development. Our guests don’t talk about unrealistic visions of the future, but about the real questions that arise in their research. We also ask people from the region for their perspective on the complex topic of AI.

Direct Dial is one of many formats of Cyber Valley Public Engagement. Cyber Valley wants to see ethically and socially reflective research in the field of AI. If you would like to stay up to date on new podcast episodes, formats, and events related to the dialogue on AI, feel free to sign up for the Public Engagement Newsletter. 

Our guests

Katherine J. Kuchenbecker, Director at the Max-Planck-Institute for Intelligent Systems (MPI-IS) in Stuttgart, talks about the challenges and latest developments in haptic intelligence research. She explains why robots have barely been able to touch, how her research is trying to change that, and where that could potentially be useful. An abridged version of this conversation has also been published here for further reading.

Another perspective on the body and presence of machines is brought in by Ilja Mirsky, dramaturge at the Zimmertheater Tübingen (Institut für theatrale Zukunftsforschung ITZ). He is a Phd student on the topic of human-machine interaction and sees the relationship between humans and machines as a source of inspiration.

About Direktdurchwahl

The podcast episode “Feel the robot” is now online on Spotify, Deezer, Amazon Music/Audible as well as Google Podcasts– and most recently on Apple Podcasts and YouTube. In addition, horads 88.6, the campus radio station for the Stuttgart/Ludwigsburg region, broadcasts the podcast every second Sunday at 14:00.

In our podcast, we clarify what artificial intelligence (AI) scientists are researching. We also present what AI can’t do (yet) or where special challenges currently exist in research and development. Our guests don’t talk about unrealistic visions of the future, but about the real questions that arise in their research. We also ask people from the region for their perspective on the complex topic of AI.

Direct Dial is one of many formats of Cyber Valley Public Engagement. Cyber Valley wants to see ethically and socially reflective research in the field of AI. If you would like to stay up to date on new podcast episodes, formats, and events related to the dialogue on AI, feel free to sign up for the Public Engagement Newsletter. 

Beiter and Klügel talk about ethical issues related to AI with Dr. Thilo Hagendorff, AI ethicist in the Cluster of Excellence “Machine Learning – New Perspectives for Science” at the University of Tübingen. He pleads for an “ethical atmosphere” at the faculties, so that students become responsible developers of technology. After all, he says, those who develop AI systems have a lot of power. “AI systems may end up being used by millions or even billions of people – a big responsibility,” Hagendorff says in the interview. An abridged version of this interview is also available for further reading.

This time, the voice from society comes from Monika Heim, a works council member at Festo SE & Co. KG in Esslingen. “I see the area of application for AI where it doesn’t take away work, but improves it,” says Heim. In the interview, she focuses on ethical issues that arise where AI not only assists, but replaces human labor.

The podcast episode “AI and ethics” is now online on all major platforms. For example, “Direktdurchwahl” is available on Spotify, Deezer, Amazon Music/Audible as well as Google Podcasts verfügbar – and most recently on Apple Podcasts and YouTube. In addition, horads 88.6, the campus radio station for the Stuttgart/Ludwigsburg region, broadcasts the podcast every second Sunday at 14:00 hrs.

“What I think has a future are all support systems,” Liebgott says. “I’m more skeptical about automated diagnoses. While it’s nice to see that we could theoretically have such automated diagnoses in some areas, I don’t think there will be that much social acceptance there either. And I doubt the added value of some automated systems. What does add tremendous value, though, are systems that support doctors.”

She explains the possibilities being researched at the University of Stuttgart to use machine learning to optimize the process of an MRI scan in the podcast, which is available not only at cyber-valley.de/podcast, but also on Spotify, Deezer, Amazon Music/Audible and Google Podcasts.

Also out today: the September issue of the Public Engagement Newsletter (in German). In it, Rebecca Beiter and Patrick Klügel present some events and projects and provide food for thought around the topic of AI and society.

You can receive news and updates from Cyber Valley free of charge and directly by email. Click here to go to the sign-up page for our newsletters and press releases: cyber-valley.de/newsletter. You can unsubscribe at any time.

“I see great opportunities in AI for inclusion and participation for all,” says Matthias Peissner, head of the Human-Technology Interaction research group at the Fraunhofer Institute for Industrial Engineering IAO. “We should avoid the mistake of trying to hold on to what we know. We have to acknowledge that this change is happening. If we don’t, we will miss out as a society.”

To what extent can society help steer these developments? What should the future of work look like? Where do we even want to go? We address these and other questions in the second episode of “Direktdurchwahl”.

The podcast is available free of charge at cyber-valley.de/podcast as well as on Spotify, Deezer, Google Podcast, and Amazon Music/Audible.