The first fantasies of artificial intelligence were already around in 1726 and were described in Jonathan Swift’s satirical novel Gulliver’s Travels. The historical review of our AI in the Ore Mountains event was the introduction. The event was divided into presentations by the participants, which led deeper into the topic of artificial intelligence, and an exciting discussion round with controversial approaches.

NI – We need to use natural intelligence to get AI on the right track and apply it, according to State Secretary Ines Fröhlich at the Saxon State Ministry of Economic Affairs, Labor and Transport. The upswing in car manufacturing has also led to a rethink. Today, the car is the favorite of many Germans. The onslaught of those who would be freed from their jobs has probably failed to materialize. So the hope for a good immigration policy remains.

Martin Witschaß IHK Chemnitz – Managing Director Location Policy presented some companies that are already using AI on a large and small scale, for example to optimize spare parts logistics or to evaluate process requirements with the help of AI. Orders can also be optimally scheduled with AI.

André Kostov from the Fraunhofer Institute for Integrated Circuits IIS, Adaptive Systems Engineering Division EAS Dresden, gave us an important presentation providing an overview of strong and weak artificial intelligence. It became clear that it is not so much large human-like robots that will determine our lives in the future, but rather small-format programs that serve to digitize business processes such as chat GPT or CRM and ERP software.

Marco Rutzke, Managing Director of NetTask GmbH, concluded the round of introductions with a brief summary from the entrepreneur’s perspective. He runs the security company Net Task and was able to report first-hand on his challenges and those of his customers.

Prof. Dr.-Ing. Michael Uhlmann ATB Arbeit, Technik und Bildung gGmbH joined the panel discussion. Above all, there was agreement that AI does not mean a loss for the German labor market, but should be seen as a further development. Repetitive tasks in particular will be accelerated or eliminated altogether. This would allow office workers to concentrate on other areas.

A lack of vision for entrepreneurs in politics was also denounced, as were the educational opportunities that can be expanded to prepare pupils and trainees for dealing with the innovations. Also that hardly any German entrepreneurs are willing to share their data in contrast to the start-up sector. Can you blame them? After all, data is their capital. An idea from the audience: Why don’t we adapt more to the Americans? There is a formula in the medical field that calculates how many lives can be saved by the further development of AI. For example, there is already a robot that replaces the hand of a surgeon in medicine. Fewer mistakes are made in the process.

AI – a lively topic with unanswered questions, the answers to which not only time can give us – but we can.

We thank: ARNOLD’s the Cafe’am Flugplatz, our host Thomas Wolf, all guests and participants.