Recently, an AI completed Ludwig van Beethoven’s unfinished 10th Symphony. Experts and listeners were enthusiastic. Will AI soon outstrip us, at least in some fields? It is certainly indisputable that AI can process far, far more data than a human. 

In Episode 8 of “AI and Us”, Humboldtians Martin Butz, Tobias Matzner and Daniel Rückert discuss whether it is conceivable that an AGI, an artificial general intelligence, will be developed in the foreseeable future. That would be an AI whose abilities and behaviour were not restricted to a certain segment of the world. Unthinkable, says Alexander von Humboldt Professor Aimée van Wynsberghe. She calls for a debate on the ethical issues and social consequences that are already generated by existing forms of AI. 

The Alexander von Humboldt Foundation

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 a network of well over 30,000 Humboldtians from all disciplines in more than 140 countries worldwide – including 57 Nobel Laureates.

As part of the German government’s Artificial Intelligence Strategy, the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation can appoint a total of 30 Alexander von Humboldt Professors for Artificial Intelligence in the years up to 2024. These chairs are contributing to work being done to comprehensively investigate the opportunities AI offers for our future and to make use of them. They will also help strengthen Germany’s standing as an internationally attractive and influential location in this important field.