Zuse Schools anniversary – Three years of shaping the future of AI

Participants: Zuse Schools directors, coordination teams and fellows, Master and PhD students, BMFTR, DAAD; 

TU Darmstadt, Wilhelm-Köhler-Saal (Room 283) and Foyer (Room 284)

Moderation: Dr. Julia Hagel

• 09.00     Registration and coffee
• 10.00     Opening
  Prof. Dr. Tanja Brühl – President of TU Darmstadt
  Dr. Michael Harms – Deputy Secretary General, DAAD 
  MinR’in Dr. Lisette Andreae – Head of Unit European Higher Education Area, Internationalization, BMFTR
• 10.45     Keynote 
  tba
• 11.40     Coffee break and poster exhibition
• 12.20     Presentations by students from the Zuse Schools
  tba
  tba
• 13.15     Lunch
• 14.15     Panel discussion

"From Algorithms to Intuition: What AI Can Learn from Human Reasoning"

While contemporary AI systems are often said to exhibit reasoning capabilities, their underlying mechanisms are primarily based on statistical pattern recognition and algorithmic processing. In contrast, human reasoning is shaped by emotional, experiential, and contextual factors, enabling intuitive judgment, adaptability, and the ability to deal with ambiguity.
This distinction matters in practice: AI is increasingly involved in high-stakes decisions – in fields like healthcare, the automotive sector and even criminal justice – where the absence of nuanced, human-like reasoning can lead to flawed or unjust outcomes.
This panel invites a critical examination of the concept of "reasoning" in AI: To what extent can machine-based processes be considered reasoning, given their fundamental differences from human cognition? What role can Cognitive Science play in deepening our understanding of this distinction? And how might interdisciplinary dialogue between AI and Cognitive Science contribute to developing systems that approximate human-like reasoning more closely?

Panellists:
Dr. Letiția Pârcălăbescu, Heidelberg University 
Prof. Dr. Volker Tresp, LMU Munich
Prof. Dr. Marc Toussaint, TU Berlin
N. n.  

• 15.30     Presentations by students from the Zuse Schools
  tba 
  tba
• 16.25     Coffee break and poster exhibition
• 17.00     Industry keynote 
  Naureen Mahmood, Co-founder & CEO of Meshcapade
• ​​​​​​17.40     Closing remarks
• 19.00     Dinner

Dialogue session 'My academic and professional future as a Zuse Schools graduate in Germany – chances and challenges'

With DAAD and others

Participants: Zuse Schools Master and PhD students, Zuse Schools directors and coordination teams, DAAD;

WELCOME HOTEL DARMSTADT, Conference room ‘Einstein + Galileo’, Floor 1

• 09.00     Registration and coffee
• 09.30     Dialogue session
• 11.00     Coffee break and individual departure
• 12.00     End