Tuttlingen – “K2” is the name of the second highest peak in the world. "AI" is the name of the mountain that was climbed at the Thinkathon: The creative workshop as part of the joint project KIM-Labs showed ways, identified obstacles and granted new perspectives in relation to the technology.
KIM-Labs is a joint project of MedicalMountains GmbH and TechnologyMountains eV in cooperation with the Hahn-Schickard Society for Applied Research eV and Furtwangen University. The offers follow the guiding principle "Inform, test, support and network" and provide small and medium-sized companies with decision-making and entry-level assistance to make AI usable for themselves. The Thinkathon is a building block for this. More than 20 participants from companies, institutes and universities had gathered for this joint online tour. Britta Norwat and Marena Hauser from MedicalMountains GmbH took over the preparation up to the "base camp" - from there Frank Stratmann from the agency "betablogr" took over the management of the rope team. The moderator used the image of a mountain range to lead through the day, i.e. up to the "mountain of ideas". Maximilien Kintz from Fraunhofer IAO prepared the start with his lecture on "Potentials and Limits of AI". Today's "weak" artificial intelligence is not "magic" or provided with its own consciousness, but only capable of learning within its problem horizon and only as smart as the database allows. Nevertheless, it can already do a lot today: for example, classify, predict and support decisions. And that's what it was all about afterwards: Discussing the opportunities of AI in joint discussions and working groups, specifying possibilities and possibly pushing one or the other rock out of the way.
Three points emerged as the main themes. Data acquisition and maintenance as the basis for AI applications - and above all their validation. "The fact that this topic is so present shows that everyone has already made some progress," notes Britta Norwat. "Of course we still talk a lot about the basics, but the applications are becoming more and more concrete and current." Or to stick with the analogy of the day: "AI" is no longer the distant, unattainable peak. The fixed ropes have been laid up, it still takes strength and effort, but at the top there is a promising view of the surrounding AI chain.
Nevertheless: solo ascents may be courageous, but not necessarily effective. “One person alone cannot understand the highly complex interrelationships in AI. Better solutions can be found in a network, in dialogue and in exchange,” says Britta Norwat. And so the KIM-Labs project sees itself in a certain way as a Sherpa who takes the weight off the groups and points the way - which must be walked by each individual, but with far more sure-footedness.
"The Thinkathon gave the participants, but also us as project managers, good impulses," said Britta Norwat, summing up the day. Questions and suggestions flow into the accompanying portfolio of offers from KIM-Labs, which is organized by MedicalMountains GmbH. Britta Norwat and Marena Hauser predict that a panel of experts would also be useful for the topic of validation: further bridges to the future will be built from the “Mountain of Ideas”.
