How can artificial intelligence (AI) draw on principles from nature to solve complex problems? When it comes to recognizing patterns in large amounts of data, AI is faster and more capable than humans. However, it has difficulties when it has to make connections or deal with uncertainties and fuzziness. Through evolution, development, and learning, nature has developed much more practical problem-solving solutions. Yaochu Jin, the Alexander von Humboldt Professor of Artificial Intelligence at Bielefeld University since the autumn, is looking at how such principles can be transferred to AI. The Humboldt Professor will be continuing his previous research on nature-inspired artificial intelligence at Bielefeld University and looking for applications of nature-inspired and self-organized AI. 'My goal is to understand and borrow successful mechanisms from nature and transfer them into artificial intelligence for problem-solving,' says Jin.

Yaochu Jin is doing research on nature-inspired intelligent technological systems that organize themselves in a changing environment. How can artificial intelligence (AI) draw on principles from nature to solve complex problems? When it comes to recognizing patterns in large amounts of data, AI is faster and more capable than humans. However, it has difficulties when it has to make connections or deal with uncertainties and fuzziness. Through evolution, development, and learning, nature has developed much more practical problem-solving solutions. Yaochu Jin, the Alexander von Humboldt Professor of Artificial Intelligence at Bielefeld University since the autumn, is looking at how such principles can be transferred to AI.

Prof. Daniel Rückert has developed trailblazing computational techniques that generate highly informative images from CT and MRI scans, analyze them, and interpret them for improved medical diagnostics. TUM has now succeeded in recruiting this expert in AI-based medicine. The Alexander von Humboldt Foundation will support his research with one of the prestigious Humboldt Professorships, which comes with a 5 million euro endowment. With these awards, the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation is pursuing the goal of attracting leading international scientists to Germany on a long-term basis. In May, Federal Minister of Education and Research Anja Karliczek announced the goal of creating additional AI-related chairs.

Up to 30 additional Alexander von Humboldt Professorships in the field of Artificial Intelligence are to be filled in the years up to 2024. Through these professorships, the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation intends to contribute to the German government's Artificial Intelligence Strategy which targets the establishment of new AI chairs in Germany. Alexander von Humboldt Professorships are financed by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research. The award comes with €5 million in funding for individuals conducting experimental research and €3.5 million for researchers working in theoretical fields. The award brings top international researchers from abroad to German universities and offers them long-term prospects for conducting research in Germany.