The future of artificial intelligence
The cluster project “Reasonable Artificial Intelligence” (RAI)
2024/02/02
Although deep learning (DL) has enabled important advances in the field of artificial intelligence (AI) over the last ten years, current AI systems have displayed some significant weaknesses, such as an inability to reason, difficulty handling new situations and a need for continuous adjustments. Last but not least, current AI systems also require substantial resources. The aim of the Cluster of Excellence project “Reasonable Artificial Intelligence” (RAI) is thus to develop the next generation of reasonable AI.
This next generation of AI systems will learn using a “reasonable” amount of resources, a “reasonable” quality of data and in accordance with “reasonable” data protection standards. It will have a healthy dose of common sense, possess the ability to handle new situations and contexts and be based on reasonable training paradigms that will enable continuous improvement, interaction and adaptation.
“Despite the groundbreaking advances that have been made over the last few years, current AI systems still have huge weaknesses: The AI system that beat the world champion in the board game “Go” can still easily be defeated, while ChatGPT can write long texts on complex subjects but lacks the ability to apply common sense. We must develop “reasonable AI” and this is precisely the aim of our cluster project of the same name”, explains Kristian Kersting, who is one of three spokespersons for the RAI cluster project, a professor of computer science at TU Darmstadt and Co-Director of the Hesse Center for Artificial Intelligence – hessian.AI.
We must develop “reasonable AI” and this is precisely the aim of our cluster project of the same name.
“We must rethink and redesign AI from its very core in order to overcome its weaknesses”, adds Marcus Rohrbach, who is a professor of computer science at TU Darmstadt and another spokesperson of RAI. “Today’s AI systems are inadequate and pose some risks. They require huge amounts of resources and are unable to think reasonably or adapt to changes.”
The RAI project covers four research areas:
1. Systemic AI: This area focusses on the development of software and system methods that will enable RAI systems to be trained efficiently and support their integration into existing systems.
2. Observational AI: This research area focusses on contextual learning and brings together different AI concepts to provide RAI with a good level of common sense.
3. Active AI: This area focusses on continual and adaptive lifelong learning with active exploration so that RAI systems are able to adapt better.
4. Challenging AI: This research area develops benchmarks that can be used to evaluate and improve the performance of RAI systems.
We are convinced that RAI and hessian-AI will shape the future of AI in Germany and around the world.
TU Darmstadt, one of the leading technical universities in Germany, coordinates the Hesse Center for Artificial Intelligence and is leading this cluster project. RAI is part of the research field “Information and Intelligence” (I+I) and supplements the strengths of TU Darmstadt in the area of AI research.
The success of this cluster project is made possible and promoted by the cooperation with hessian.AI – the Hesse Center for Artificial Intelligence. hessian.AI brings together the AI expertise of 13 universities and colleges across the State of Hesse, invests heavily in AI infrastructure and research and also funds AI start-ups.
“We are convinced that RAI and hessian-AI will shape the future of AI in Germany and around the world”, says Mira Mezini, who is a professor of computer science at TU Darmstadt, a spokesperson for the Cluster of Excellence and Co-Director of hessian.AI. “We will work together to develop a new generation of AI systems that is reasonable, efficient and adaptable.”
The RAI cluster project promises to revolutionise artificial intelligence and will fundamentally change the way in which we develop and utilise AI.
About “Reasonable Artificial Intelligence” (RAI):
The planned Cluster of Excellence RAI from hessian.AI, under the leadership of the Technical University of Darmstadt, is dedicated to the development of a new generation of AI systems based on the reasonable use of resources, data protection standards and continuous improvement. Multidisciplinary teams are working together in four research areas to shape the future of AI.
Participating institutions: Julius Maximilian University Würzburg, Goethe University Frankfurt am Main, Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms University Bonn.
About the excellence strategy of the federal and state governments
To further strengthen the international competitiveness of research at German universities, the federal and state governments have established the Excellence Strategy as a funding programme. The key objective of the Excellence Strategy is to strengthen top-level research in areas that are internationally competitive, to institutionally strengthen German universities, and to advance the development of the German higher education system.
To this end, the Excellence Strategy comprises two separate but intertwined funding lines. The “Clusters of Excellence” funding line, coordinated by the German Research Foundation (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft – DFG) provides project-based funding for internationally competitive research areas at German universities. The “Universities of Excellence” funding line, coordinated by the German Science and Humanities Council (Wissenschaftsrat – WR), is designed to fund institutional strategies that promise to strengthen universities as a whole and create outstanding framework conditions for excellent research.
