Top researchers discuss current developments in artificial intelligence

It is not just in academia and industry that artificial intelligence has become one of the most hotly debated topics but in the political arena and society, too. What kind of AI do we need and want, especially in scenarios in which AI systems directly interact with their environment and people? How can we best address the weaknesses of existing AI systems like ChatGPT? And why should the development and widespread use of artificial intelligence be driven in the first place? These are the questions experts from all over the world who are seminally involved in developing AI and its applications will be discussing at the Humboldt Award Winners’ Forum in Bonn from 22 to 24 October.

The Award Winners’ Forum unites the who’s who of AI research: in addition to eight Humboldt Professors for AI (Holger Hoos, Hector Geffner, Vincent Müller, André Platzer, Daniel Rückert, Angela Schoellig, Heike Vallery, Angela Yu), Humboldt Professor Oliver Brock, Sofja Kovalevskaja Award winner, Milica Gašić, Max Planck-Humboldt Medal winner, Sumit Gulwani, and Humboldt Research Award winner, Toby Walsh, will all take part. The scientific committee consists of Holger Hoos, Oliver Brock and Vincent Müller. 
The Humboldt Foundation’s Alexander von Humboldt Professorship for Artificial Intelligence promotes top international research in AI at the cross-section of technology, environment and society, granting an award amount of five million euros each. The Bonn Humboldt Award Winners’ Forum brings together expertise from within and beyond the Humboldt Network with the aim of driving the equitable and sustainable handling of transformative technologies.

This event is an opportunity to acquire a comprehensive overview of research in artificial intelligence which encompasses various disciplines such as computer science, cognitive science, philosophy and others. The conference should, moreover, sharpen the profile of Bonn as a city of science. Every year, the Bonn Humboldt Award Winners’ Forum encourages closer ties between Humboldt Research Award winners, junior researchers and scientific institutions in Germany.
Journalists are most welcome to attend; we are happy to arrange interviews.

Selected programme items:

Wednesday, 22 October 2025, University of Bonn, 5 p.m. 

Opening and welcome

• Michael Hoch, Rector of the University of Bonn
• Gabi Mayer, Mayor of Bonn
• Markus Zanner, Secretary General of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation 
• Holger Hoos, Humboldt Professor of AI, RWTH Aachen University

Keynote lecture: “Reasonable AI”
Kristian Kersting, Professor of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning, TU Darmstadt

Panel discussion
with
Milica Gašić, Chair of Dialog Systems and Machine Learning, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf
Teresa Head-Gordon, Chancellor's Professor of Chemistry, Bioengineering, and Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering, University of California, Berkeley, USA
Kristian Kersting, Professor of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning, TU Darmstadt

Followed by: Reception

Thursday, 23 October, Kranz Parkhotel Siegburg, from 9 a.m. 

“Smart Advice: Intelligent Agents Assisting Humans in the Super AI Era”
Sarit Kraus, Professor of Computer Science and Dean of the faculty of Exact Sciences, Bar-Ilan University, Israel 
“Opportunities and Pitfalls of Physically Interfacing Intelligent Robotics with Human Users”
Heike Vallery, Humboldt Professor for AI, RWTH Aachen University
“AI and the Future of Medicine”
Daniel Rückert, Humboldt Professor for AI, TUM Munich

Thursday, 23 October, Stadtmuseum Siegburg, from 7.30 p.m.

Conversation concert:
“Gödel, Escher, Bach: Perspectives and (Im)Possibilities” – a playful exploration of music, arts and mathematics
with Humboldt Professor for AI Holger Hoos (heckelphone), David Frühwirth (violin), Anna Kakutia (violin), Chialong Tsai (viola), Graham Waterhouse (cello/piano), Mattia Riva (double bass)

Every year, the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation enables more than 2,000 researchers from all over the world to spend time conducting research in Germany. The Foundation maintains an interdisciplinary network of well over 30,000 Humboldtians in more than 140 countries around the world – including 63 Nobel Prize winners.