Artificial Intelligence without Limits? Risks and Opportunities

This event takes place within the Q+ Study Program at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz. It is a public session of an otherwise two-day Q+ seminar attended by students from all academic disciplines at JGU.

Artificial intelligence (AI) has the potential to profoundly change almost every area of human life. An ‘AI without limits’ - i.e. an unregulated, extremely powerful form of artificial intelligence - could enable enormous progress but also harbors serious risks.

Limitless AI could revolutionize medical diagnoses, make complex climate models more precise, and accelerate innovation in science, technology, and education. Autonomous systems could take over dangerous work, break down global communication barriers and make personalized education and healthcare accessible worldwide.

Without ethical and legal limits, however, there is a risk of abuse of power, for example through mass surveillance, algorithmic discrimination, or the development of autonomous weapons systems. Uncontrolled AI development could exacerbate economic inequalities or even lead to a loss of control over self-learning systems - a scenario known in research as the ‘alignment problem’.

So how should we deal with AI?

For two days, we will be engaging in a critical discussion focused on practical applications, featuring AI specialists from the humanities and computer science as well as practitioners from start-ups, medium sized national and large global companies.

By Studyprogram Q+/Johannes Gutenberg-University Mainz. Supported by Innovationsagentur RLP.

For further questions please contact Julia Reichenpfader: studienprogrammqplus@uni-mainz.de