Often described as austere and even robotic, Social Democrat Olaf Scholz nonetheless managed to inspire German voters in this year's election with a campaign that played on his reputation as a safe pair of hands. Scholz, 63, will now take office as Germany's ninth post-war chancellor, replacing Angela Merkel who is leaving the political stage after 16 years. The Social Democrats (SPD) had begun the election campaign at rock bottom in the polls, with many completely writing off Scholz's chances of heading the next government -- so much so that he didn't even have an official biography until this week. But Scholz managed to stage a stunning upset, beating Merkel's conservatives by positioning himself as the best candidate to continue her legacy, even adopting her famous "rhombus" hand gesture on a magazine cover. Unlike his rivals, he also managed not to make embarrassing mistakes during a campaign that drew on his reputation as a quiet workhorse, using the slogan "Scholz will sort it".

Meet Stefanie Schalitz, Vara's Technical Project Manager, whose customer-facing role bridges sales, software development, product management and operations to successfully and efficiently implement Vara on site. Originally from #Luckenwalde, Germany, Steffi has a strong IT background, particularly in systems integrations. She studied Business Informatics at Beuth University of Applied Sciences Berlin (formerly Technische Fachhochschule Berlin), thereafter working for 6 years as a Systems Engineer and Network Engineer. In the last 3 years, when she wasn't riding her motorcycle, running or playing volleyball, Steffi gained experience in product as well as project management. She joined Vara because she believes in the Company's vision to pioneer #AI-driven #healthcare: "I strongly believe that AI can have a truly positive impact in healthcare and this will be just the beginning of a great journey; many more use cases will follow. Together with Vara, I want to make sure that more #breastcancer is found earlier to effectively save lives."

He is working on improving the performance and safety of our machine learning models. Originally from Zagreb, Croatia, Vilim studied electrical engineering and computer science for his bachelor's degree. He increasingly became intrigued with neuroscience, which became the focus of his Master's degree at LMU in Munich. Vilim stayed on in Munich to obtain his PhD at the Max Planck Institute of Neurobiology, where he investigated neural processing for motor control with whole-brain imaging. Machine learning has always been a part of Vilim's work and studies, and he is excited to completely focus on it for his new role.

America is ahead of the game, but many other countries like China, India, Japan, Germany, England, Italy, France, and Russia are investing substantially in developing AI systems. Machine learning (ML) has prevailed and become a buzzword in the media. However, it is not AI itself. Another buzzword filling the columns in the media is deep learning. AI tools come with many bugs.

Often described as austere and even robotic, Social Democrat Olaf Scholz nonetheless managed to inspire German voters in this year's election with a campaign that played on his reputation as a safe pair of hands. Scholz, 63, is on the brink of becoming the next German chancellor, replacing Angela Merkel who is leaving the political stage after 16 years. The Social Democrats (SPD) had begun the election campaign at rock bottom in the polls, with many completely writing off Scholz's chances of heading the next government -- so much so that he doesn't even have an official biography. But Scholz managed to stage a stunning upset, beating Merkel's conservatives by positioning himself as the best candidate to continue her legacy, even adopting her famous "rhombus" hand gesture on a magazine cover. Olaf Scholz staged an upset poll win by positioning himself as the best candidate to continue Angela Merkel's legacy as German chancellor Photo: AFP / Odd ANDERSEN Unlike his rivals, he also managed not to make embarrassing mistakes during a campaign that drew on his reputation as a quiet workhorse, using the slogan "Scholz will sort it".

Vincent C. Müller, currently professor of philosophy and ethics of technology at the Technical University of Eindhoven, was awarded an Alexander von Humboldt Professorship to support his work on the philosophy of artificial intelligence. The award includes a grant of €3.5 million (approximately $3.96 million), plus matching funds of €1.5 million from the University of Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU) university, where he will be taking up a permanent chair in “Philosophy of Artificial Intelligence.” The award is from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, and is one of the largest of its kind in the world. In its announcement, the foundation says: Artificial intelligence (AI) is gradually entering all areas of our everyday lives. The more AI we use, the more we realise that certain standards and frameworks are needed to ensure that AI is developed and employed in a value-based, responsible and human-centred fashion. Otherwise, exclusion and discrimination could result. The exploration and application of responsible AI is still a very young discipline and Vincent C. Müller can rightfully be described as one of its pioneers. Even before the topic had triggered broad public debate, he was working on the philosophy and ethics of AI, whereby he also enjoys a very high reputation amongst computer scientists: He is one of the few people outside of informatics to be appointed a fellow of the Alan Turing Institute in London. He also channels his expertise into political consultancy, for example as an expert in the Global Partnership on Artificial Intelligence, a global initiative involving Germany that was launched in 2020 to promote the responsible development and use of AI. As a Humboldt Professor at FAU, Vincent C. Müller is called upon to build bridges both between technological and humanities expertise as well as beyond the confines of the university to industry and public administration. He is invited to build up a new, international, interdisciplinary Centre for Philosophy and AI Research (PAIR) which will become a hub for AI philosophy at FAU. Cooperation with the Fraunhofer Institute for Integrated Circuits is also foreseen in order to support the development of trustworthy AI systems. Ten Humboldt professorships were awarded this year, across a range of disciplines. You can learn more about the other recipients here.

What are possible applications for AI in this field, and how can we develop and use the technology in a way that is transparent and compatible with the public interest, while stimulating and driving innovation in the sector? BIOTOPIA is delighted to welcome a panel of experts from Helmholtz Center Munich.

Almost two centuries after his death, Beethoven's 10th symphony has now been completed - with extra help from Artificial Intelligence (AI). The world premiere was presented last Saturday (9 October) in Bonn, Germany, the birth city of the legendary composer. It took two years for an international team of experts to complete the work. Before his death, Ludwig van Beethoven had started writing the 10th symphony. But only a few notes and musical sketches were left.

Third-generation system from French car parts giant said to improve range and resolution dramatically. Valeo, one of the world's largest providers of car parts and a leading supplier of sensors for advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS), is set to release new scanning lidar technology with claims of much-improved range and resolution. The Paris-listed company, which manufactures its lidar systems in southern Germany, says that the "third-generation" design will be launched to the market in 2024. "This new technology, which offers significantly enhanced performance, makes autonomous mobility a reality and provides previously unseen levels of road safety," announced the firm. The system is said to be capable of reconstructing a 3D real-time image of the vehicle's surroundings at a rate of 4.5 million pixels and 25 frames per second. "Compared with the previous generation, the resolution has been increased 12-fold, the range 3-fold, and the viewing angle 2.5-fold," Valeo added.

Often described as austere and even robotic, Social Democrat Olaf Scholz nonetheless managed to inspire German voters in this year's election with a campaign that played on his reputation as a safe pair of hands. Scholz, 63, is on the brink of becoming the next German chancellor after leading his party to a surprise victory in September's vote, relieving Angela Merkel of her duties after 16 years. Together with the leaders of the ecologist Greens and the liberal FDP, he unveiled a deal for Germany's next coalition on Wednesday. The Social Democrats (SPD) had begun the election campaign at rock bottom in the polls, with many completely writing off Scholz's chances of becoming chancellor -- so much so that he doesn't even have an official biography. Olaf Scholz staged an upset poll win by positioning himself as the best candidate to continue Angela Merkel's legacy as German chancellor Photo: AFP / Odd ANDERSEN But Scholz managed to stage a stunning upset by positioning himself as the best candidate to continue Merkel's legacy, even adopting her famous "rhombus" hand gesture on a magazine cover.