We are pleased to share that on January 29, 2025, relAI will join the opening ceremony of our partner AI-HUB@LMU  to celebrate its founding. AI-HUB@LMU is a platform that, for the first time, unites all 18 faculties of Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München as a joint scientific community and aims to advance research, teaching, and transfer in artificial intelligence and data science at LMU.  

As part of our commitment to fostering collaboration and innovation, relAI supports the organization of this significant event. The event will be honoured by inaugural remarks from representatives of the university and government. All 18 faculties will then present their highlights in AI and data science in keynote talks, panel discussions, pitch talks, and presentations. Check this link for the full program: https://www.ai-news.lmu.de/grand-opening-ai-hub.  

From 28 to 30 October, the second annual meeting of the three DAAD Zuse Schools of Excellence in Artificial Intelligence, ELIZA (Darmstadt), SECAI (Dresden), und relAI (Munich) took place in Munich.

The meeting kicked off on the 28^th with a work-meeting of the Zuse Schools directors and coordination teams, the chairman of the Zuse Schools Advisory Board, as well as representatives of BMBF and DAAD. The main event, which followed on the 29^th, celebrated the three Zuse Schools’ second anniversary with a rich program featuring welcome speeches, academic and industry keynotes, talks by Zuse School students, and a stimulating panel discussion.

The celebration on the 29^th was opened by inspiring welcome addresses from Prof. Dr. Gerhard Kramer, Senior Vice President for Research and Innovation, TUM, Prof. Dr. Hans van Ess, Vice President for Research, LMU, Dr. Kai Sicks, DAAD Secretary General,  MinR’in Dr. Lisette Andreae, Head of Unit European Higher Education Area, Internationalization, BMBF and MinDir Dr. Rolf-Dieter Jungk, Bavarian State Ministry for Science and the Arts (StMWK). relAI Fellow Prof. Björn Ommer delivered a brilliant keynote talk on the latest research on Generative AI. The industry keynote by Dr. Ahmed Sayed, Head of EMEA Emerging Technologies, AWS, provided an insightful overview of the industry applications of AI.  The four talks from students of the three Zuse Schools showcased the excellent research carried out by the schools. The program was rounded off with an engaging panel discussion about the topic “Reliability in times of generative AI”, featuring a diverse range of perspectives and voices.

The event concluded on the 30^th with a Dialogue session, “My academic and professional future as a Zuse Schools graduate in Germany – chances and challenges” and the Advisory Board Meeting.

We are thankful to all the speakers and contributors who made the meeting a success, and to BMBF and DAAD for their support of the Zuse Schools.

Photo on the right side: DAAD / Siegfried Michael Wagner

On 30 October 2024, the relAI Scientific Advisory Board (SAB) met in Munich. Throughout the Meeting, SAB Members talked to relAI Directors and Fellows, Students, and the Management Team to gain insights into the relAI program from various perspectives within the relAI family. 

The SAB members shared their extensive experience from numerous international research projects. They advised relAI on the future directions of the program, suggesting strategies for optimizing internal structures and expanding our network.

We extend our heartfelt gratitude to all SAB members for their time, insights, and invaluable contributions to the relAI program.  

On 9 October, we had the pleasure of welcoming the new cohort of relAI students to our school.

The day began with a warm introduction from relAI directors, Gitta Kutyniok and Stephan Günnemann, followed by an informative session from our coordinators team, covering the key organizational aspects of relAI.

The students spent the afternoon getting to know each other in different games and engaging exchange activities, organized by the students representatives Ole Petersen and Johanna Topalis. We wrapped up the day with a delightful dinner, and insightful discussions.  Welcome to relAI, new members! We’re excited to have you on board!

We were thrilled to present relAI at the TUM Open House Research Campus Garching! It was a great opportunity to share our vision of reliable AI and to connect with students, researchers and the public.  

At our booth, we demonstrated how AI works through engaging games and simulations. Attendees explored how AI algorithms learn, trained their own neural networks, and dived into concepts like Simpson's Paradox and the mechanisms behind AI decision-making. 

A big thank you to our coordinators and students (Sameer Ambekar, Julian Balletshofer, Sarah Lumpp, Amine Ketata, Maria Matveev, Daniela Schkoda, Richard Schwank) representing relAI, and to everyone who visited our booth, engaged in thought-provoking conversations, and explored the possibilities of AI with us. ! 

Join us at the TUM Open House Research Campus Garching! 

We’re excited to invite you to our booth at the TUM Open House on October 3rd from 10 AM to 5 PM. Meet relAI students and coordinators at our booth, where you can experiment with building your own neural network or test your intuition against Simpson’s Paradox! You’ll find us in the Magistrale of the Mathematics & Informatics Building, right next to the info point.  

At 2:45 PM, relAI Director Stephan Günnemann will deliver a talk on "Wie Künstliche Intelligenz die Wissenschaft verändert" ("How Artificial Intelligence is Changing Science"). This presentation, in German, will take place in the Friedrich L. Bauer Lecture Hall within the Mathematics and Computer Science building. 

This Open House is a fantastic opportunity to explore other research institutes, labs, and take part in various hands-on activities throughout the day! 

For more details, including how to engage with other activities at the event, visit: 

https://forschungscampus-garching.de/  (in German) 
https://www.tum.de/en/news-and-events/events/open-day-garching (in English)  

We look forward to welcoming you! 

We are thrilled to share the outcome of the recent (03 - 05.07) relAI retreat, which brought together more than 50 fellows and students in Miesbach. Over the course of three days, participants engaged in intriguing discussions, insightful keynotes, and a variety of activities focused on the various aspects of reliability in AI. 

Among the highlights of the event were inspiring keynote presentations. These spanned all four research areas of our school: Mathematical and Algorithmic Foundations, Medicine & Healthcare, Robotics & Interacting Systems and Algorithmic Decision-Making.

Students got to know each other better during the Speedgeeking and Lightning Talks sessions. The first one consisted of five minutes one to one discussions on questions relevant to relAI students. The Lightning Talks, one minute presentations of each student´s research topic, allowed for a fast though comprenhesive view of the research carried out throughout relAI.

A part of the retreat followed an unconference format, fostering engaging group discussions on various challenges of reliability of AI. These ranged from the lack of sufficiently large datasets in medicine and healthcare, to explainability of foundation models and the societal impacts of large language models.  
Some of the discussions focused on improving the relAI program, such as our relAI seminar, relAI blog and relAI safety hackathon. 

Towards the end of the retreat, relAI Fellows celebrated the third relAI Fellows assembly, a successful meeting that tackled organizational and research issues of the school.

As relAI integrates into the Universities of Excellence, TUM and LMU, bringing together members who work and study across various parts of Munich, events like this retreat are invaluable. They strengthen the "relAI family," fostering collaboration, scientific exchange and community spirit. We are already looking forward to the next retreat! 

Thank you to everyone who participated and contributed to making this event a great success.