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Welcome to the baiosphere

The backdrop in the Planetarium of the Deutsches Museum was spectacular and the auditoriums packed when moderator Petra Bindl opened the first day of AI.BAY2023 together with renowned female scientists from Munich’s AI research community. Both Prof. Dr. Kutyniok (LMU) and Prof. Dr. Schnabel (Helmholtz Munich, TUM) emphasized the great support of AI research by Bavarian politics.

In his address, Dr. Markus Söder focused in particular on the high-tech agenda, which will make Bavaria an even more attractive location for science, technology and business. He sees artificial intelligence (AI) as a solution to many of the challenges facing humanity: curing cancer, aging with dignity, climate protection and safe autonomous driving are just some of the potentials, according to the Bavarian Minister President.

The audience was amazed when Marc Raibert (Boston Dynamics AI Institute) brought his bouncing robot on stage with him. Spot is one of the most advanced robots already in use in industry. It is particularly suitable for use in environments that are hazardous to humans, such as Chernobyl or oil platforms. In the process, it collects data, measures the radioactive load or performs maintenance work. At AI.BAY2023, however, Spot wowed with other skills – dancing, jumping, bowing and his playful “personality” make him seem almost like a real dog.

The Bavarian Minister President and Prof. Dr. Haddadin (Director of the Munich Institute of Robotics and Machine Intelligence) discussed the development of an AI industry in Bavaria and opened the TUM AI Factory at the Deutsches Museum. In the subsequent panel discussion between Bavarian Science Minister Blume, Digital Minister Gerlach, Economics Minister Aiwanger and the two researchers Prof. Dr. Dr. Theis (Helmholtz Munich, TUM) and Prof. Dr. Eckert (Fraunhofer AISEC, TUM), the focus was on the Bavarian AI network – the baiosphere. Renowned AI scientists from all over the world are attracted to the Free State. The baiosphere networks these players and increases the attractiveness of Bavaria as an AI location.

In addition to AI’s impact on society and solutions to environmental problems, the sessions also addressed AI for business and how AI is changing our lives. In this context, Bavaria’s Digital Minister Gerlach accepted the pilot study “Tackling Climate Change in the AI Era” by Prof. Harhoff and students of the Center for Digital Technology and Management. According to the study, AI, robotics and IoT can be used in combination with data-driven processes to better understand past and current events and find new ways to address climate change.