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The Weizenbaum Institute recently hosted the 3rd NFDI Berlin-Brandenburg network meeting, where the research group welcomed about 40 participants from 16 NFDI consortia to explore how AI acts as an enabler for scientific discovery. The event featured two insightful keynote speeches: Alan Ang (Wikimedia Deutschland) demonstrated how chatbot-style Retrieval-Augmented Generation opens knowledge graphs to new users, while Georg Rehm (DFKI) explained how “shared tasks” serve as community competitions to drive cutting-edge AI development. Two dedicated demo sessions showcased a variety of practical tools in action.

The Weizenbaum Forum “Ethical AI from Theory to Practice: (How) Can We Achieve Responsible and Just AI?”, moderated by Angelie Kraft, brought together experts Christoph Hassler (H:DEI), Paula Helm (University of Amsterdam), and Tanja Kubes (Freie Universität Berlin) to address the pressing ethical questions surrounding artificial intelligence. The discussion explored how different critical perspectives can help evaluate the profound changes driven by AI and ensure its deployment is responsible, equitable, and fair. By analyzing power structures and systemic inequalities, the participants examined how these frameworks can improve the application of AI in research and provide concrete steps to translate theoretical concepts into practical, real-world solutions.

Together with two NFDI consortia and two data competency centers, we organized a workshop ‘Research Data and Software Competencies’. It received funding from the Volkswagenstiftung as part of the ‘Themenwoche Digitale Kompetenzen in der Wissenschaft’ and took place at Schloss Herrenhausen in Hannover in December 2024. Participants focused on three questions regarding essential research data and software competencies, their effective teaching, and collaboration for developing educational resources. Key outcomes include improved mutual understanding and the identification of common interests.