“The progressive development of artificial intelligence creates enormous opportunities for research, medicine, communications, and many other areas – but also raises questions about risks and responsibility,” says Leopoldina President Professor Dr Bettina Rockenbach. “Building on its broad interdisciplinary expertise, the Leopoldina is focusing on all aspects of artificial intelligence at this year’s Annual Assembly. The lectures will examine technological breakthroughs and specific potential uses of AI, for example in medicine, the geosciences, and physics, as well as ethical questions arising from AI use.”
At today’s opening, the computer scientist Dr Cordelia Schmid will give a keynote lecture on the development of artificial intelligence, its current capabilities and potential future uses. Following the lecture, there will be a podium discussion featuring researchers from the Leopoldina and Die Junge Akademie. The discussion is titled, “Artificial intelligence in the services of humans – (How) can we achieve this?”, and features the AI researchers Professor Dr Niki Kilbertus and Professor Dr Nadja Klein, the computer scientist Dr Cordelia Schmid, and the innovation researcher Professor PhD Dietmar Harhoff. The journalist Christoph Drösser will moderate the discussion.
The second day of the Annual Assembly will focus on the many areas in which AI can be used. The electrical engineer and computer scientist Professor Dr Sami Haddadin, an expert in robotics, will explain how machines learn to move, “think”, and adapt. The meteorologist Professor Dr Susanne Crewell will discuss how AI is revolutionising weather forecasts and can improve our understanding of climate change. The ethical challenges posed by AI will also be a topic. Dr Philipp Lorenz-Spreen, who researches the interplay between human behaviour and the connectivity and functionality of online platforms, will give a lecture on the complex interplay of AI, social media, and democracy. The physician and physicist Professor Dr Moritz Helmstaedter will give the closing lecture, in which he discusses how artificial and biological intelligence mutually inspire each other.
The computer scientist Professor Dr Zeynep Akata will receive the award “ZukunftsWissen – the Early Career Award from the Leopoldina and Commerzbank Foundation” at the Annual Assembly. She conducts research in the area of explainable AI and develops AI that combines visual, linguistic, and conceptual elements, and thus makes its decisions comprehensible to humans.
In addition, the Cothenius Medal 2025 will be awarded to Leopoldina Member Professor Dr Kai Simons for his lifetime’s work in science. The biochemist has studied the function and organisation of cell membranes and done pioneering work for the understanding of the interaction between viruses and host cells.
Talented pupils from throughout Germany will also attend this year’s Annual Assembly as guests. They follow the lectures at the event and have the chance to speak to researchers. Funding is provided by the Wilhelm and Else Heraeus Foundation.
(Post) doctoral fellows were once again able to apply for funding to participate in the Annual Assembly. The funding was provided by the Friends of the Leopoldina Academy and the Alfried Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach Foundation.
The mathematician and computer scientist Professor Dr Dr Thomas Lengauer and the physicist and computer scientist Professor Dr Klaus-Robert Müller were responsible for the scientific coordination of the 2025 Annual Assembly.
