No. 111/2020

34 HUMBOLDT KOSMOS 111/2020 FOCUS ON GERMANY In Dortmund, many of the threads of the German AI scene are woven together. It is from here that the com- puter scientist, Katharina Morik , coordinates the six cen- tres of excellence in artificial intelligence and organ- ises AI cooperation with France. In Dortmund itself, the TU professor is in charge of the Com- petence Center Machine Learning Rhine-Ruhr that is operated by the universities of Dort- mund and Bonn together with two Fraunhofer institutes (the Fraunhofer Institute for Intelligent Analysis and Information Systems IAIS, St Augustin, and the Fraunhofer Institute for Material Flow and Logis- tics IML, Dortmund). In addition to basic research and transfer activities, the pioneer of machine learning feels very strongly about promoting young scientists. She believes, for example, that young women have enormous potential. “At present, only about 20 percent of AI spe- cialists are female, which is a real shame.” It is an ideal research area, she notes, for women who are passionate about a better future for humans and nature. Katharina Morik’s vision of the future of AI in Germany is perma- nently funded, strong centres of excellence radiating out and actively pursuing exchange, especially within Europe and with Australia: “There they prefer our third path for dealing with artificial intelligence.” “The euphoria about AI in this part of the country is impressive,” says Erhard Rahm , professor of computer science at the University of Leipzig. Together with col- leagues, he founded the Center for Scalable Analytics and Artificial Intelligence (ScaDS.AI Dresden/Leipzig) which focusses on developing machine learning methods for handling Big Data as well as trustworthy AI methods for the fair and protected use of sen- sitive data. From the very beginning they always consider practical applications, Erhard Rahm explains, looking at improving tumour diagnosis, for instance, or defence against cyber-attacks. A new graduate school with sites in Leipzig and Dresden shall train the young experts, who are so desperately needed both inside and outside aca- demia, as well as building a bridge to business with an AI service centre. “The German AI centres of excellence are the seeds that urgently needed to be sown,” says Erhard Rahm and adds, “What we now need is perma- nent funding and new AI professorships so that great things may grow.” DRESDEN/LEIPZIG AI TO COMBAT HACKERS RHEIN/RUHR DRESDEN  LEIPZIG RHEIN/RUHR DORTMUND COORDINATES AI CENTRES