Minister Petra Olschowski visits the RHET AI

On Septem­ber 3, 2024, we wel­comed Petra Olschow­ski, Min­is­ter of Sci­ence, Research and the Arts, to RHET AI. Ms. Olschow­ski came to Tübin­gen on the occa­sion of the launch of the Cit­izens' Coun­cil "Arti­fi­cial Intel­li­gence and Free­dom" on Septem­ber 21, 2024 and took the oppor­tun­ity to find out about the vari­ous ini­ti­at­ives and research pro­jects of the Cen­ter for Sci­ence Com­mu­nic­a­tion. In addi­tion to the RHET AI and the Cit­izens’ Coun­cil, the pro­jects Jugend Präsen­tiert, Sci­ence Notes Magazine, the ini­ti­at­ive KI macht Schule, the Civis Open Lab and the IZEW also presen­ted themselves.

The image shows Patrick Klügel presenting the citizens´Council "AI and Freedom".
Patrick Klü­gel presents the Cit­izens' Assembly "AI and Free­dom"
Image: Fried­helm Albrecht Uni­ver­sity of Tübingen

After a wel­com­ing address by Rect­or Karla Poll­mann, Olaf Kramer and Susanne Marschall presen­ted the RHET AI Center's idea, research and object­ives as a cen­ter for rhet­or­ic­al sci­ence com­mu­nic­a­tion research on arti­fi­cial intel­li­gence to the Min­is­ter. Patrick Klü­gel then explained the Cit­izens' Assembly "Arti­fi­cial Intel­li­gence and Free­dom" in more detail.

The present­a­tions were fol­lowed by an open dis­cus­sion with par­ti­cipants from all insti­tu­tions and ini­ti­at­ives, in which the dimen­sions, pos­sib­il­it­ies and res­ist­ances of sci­ence com­mu­nic­a­tion and the Cit­izens' Assembly were explored. Min­is­ter Petra Olschow­ski repeatedly emphas­ized the import­ance of sci­ence com­mu­nic­a­tion for soci­ety, espe­cially against the back­drop of grow­ing extrem­ist and "non-sci­entif­ic" mod­els of explain­ing the world.

The Min­is­ter also expressly wel­comed the Cit­izens' Coun­cil as a par­ti­cip­a­tion format. While in the past, politi­cians have been very skep­tic­al about par­ti­cip­a­tion formats, exper­i­ence has shown time and again that they bring great added value. Politi­cians have the oppor­tun­ity to learn from the exper­i­ences, wishes and expert­ise of citizens.

The image shows Karla Pollmann and Susanne Olschowski sitting at a table together. They are in the middle of a discussion.
Min­is­ter Petra Olschow­ski and Karla Poll­mann dis­cuss the dimen­sions of sci­ence com­mu­nic­a­tion
Image: Fried­helm Albrecht Uni­ver­sity of Tübingen

Min­is­ter Petra Olschow­ski sees the Cit­izens' Assembly "Arti­fi­cial Intel­li­gence and Free­dom" as a great oppor­tun­ity to find out what con­cerns people about AI, what ques­tions and fears they have. With this back­ground know­ledge, sci­ence and polit­ics can respond bet­ter to the needs and liv­ing envir­on­ment of cit­izens and thus involve them more act­ively and directly.


"I'm look­ing for­ward to the res­ults," emphas­ized Petra Olschow­ski and signaled her interest in enga­ging with the res­ults of the Cit­izens' Assembly in the long term.

In dis­cus­sions with the experts, the need for pub­lic engage­ment was stressed repeatedly: sci­ence should nev­er tire of act­ively involving soci­ety. Espe­cially in the field of arti­fi­cial intel­li­gence, a high level of emo­tion­al­iz­a­tion of soci­ety can be observed. People are con­cerned about the top­ic and it is linked to many ques­tions and fears that need to be addressed. This is the task of sci­ence communication.

The image shows Karla Pollmann and Susanne Olschowski in the Showroom looking at the IN-ML-Out- artwork. A man in a white shirt explains the artwork to them.
Susanne Olschow­ski and Karla Poll­mann get a explan­a­tion on how the IN-ML-OUT exhib­it works
Image: Fried­helm Albrecht Uni­ver­sity of Tübingen

At the end of the dis­cus­sion, all par­ti­cipants were very pos­it­ive about the future of sci­ence com­mu­nic­a­tion and away from the exchange with new impulses and impressions.

The image shows various representatives of scicom-initiatives in Tübingen inside the showroom. Minister Olschowski is standing on the right.
Rep­res­ent­at­ives of vari­ous Scicom-pro­jects in Tübin­gen presen­ted their ini­ti­at­ives to Min­is­ter Petra Olschow­ski
Image: Fried­helm Albrecht Uni­ver­sity of Tübingen

Fol­low­ing the present­a­tion of the Cit­izens' Coun­cil, Min­is­ter Petra Olschow­ski had the oppor­tun­ity to get to know the indi­vidu­al pro­jects and ini­ti­at­ives in a spe­cially set up show­room and to talk to the respect­ive rep­res­ent­at­ives. The Min­is­ter was impressed by the diverse approaches with which sci­ence com­mu­nic­a­tion is already being put into prac­tice in Tübingen.


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