University of Tübingen Launches Citizens’ Council on Artificial Intelligence and Freedom
The Baden-Württemberg-wide Citizens’ Council “Artificial Intelligence and Freedom” of the University of Tübingen will give 40 randomly selected citizens from four municipalities and cities in the state the opportunity to actively participate in shaping the social support of AI research.
Citizens receive invitation letters
The drawing of participants from randomly selected larger and smaller communities in all four administrative districts in Baden-Württemberg is currently underway: Reutlingen (administrative district of Tübingen), Waiblingen (administrative district of Stuttgart), Hemsbach (administrative district of Karlsruhe) and Kleines Wiesental.
In the deliberation forum, which was initiated by the Center for Rhetorical Science Communication Research on Artificial Intelligence (RHET AI) at the University of Tübingen, citizens can formulate in dialogue with scientists from various disciplines what they expect and hope for from publicly funded research on artificial intelligence.
The Minister for Science, Research and the Arts in Baden-Württemberg, Petra Olschowski, welcomes the project: “Artificial intelligence will fundamentally change our lives and social interactions. Citizens must therefore be given the opportunity to actively shape the change. Initiatives such as the Citizens’ Council ‘AI and Freedom’, launched by the University of Tübingen, create opportunities for participation and thus trust.”
How can we help shape research into artificial intelligence?
Participants should develop concrete recommendations on the following key question: How can science and society jointly shape the future of research into artificial intelligence? In which questions and on which topics relating to publicly funded research into artificial intelligence do citizens see opportunities for participation? Which forms of participation seem sensible to them while preserving academic freedom? How can free research be supported so that it is profitable for all of us and corresponds to social values? Citizens will discuss these and other questions in dialogue with experts in four council meetings in autumn 2024.
The project is part of the public engagement within the framework of the University of Tübingen’s excellence strategy. The aim of the public engagement is to develop ways for society-oriented research and to enable more knowledge production in the medium term in the mode of transdisciplinarity and cooperation. To this end, social groups are to be permanently involved in research. The Rector of the University of Tübingen, Prof. Dr. Dr. hc (Doshisha) Karla Pollmann, emphasizes: “Research benefits from the expertise and perspectives of society when it involves citizens in its processes. We in Tübingen attach great importance to evaluating the effect of a participation format such as the Citizens’ Council.”
Events in Tübingen, Donaueschingen, Rottweil and Stuttgart
The council meetings will take place in Tübingen, Donaueschingen, Rottweil and Stuttgart. They will be accompanied by public and interactive events in which information will be provided on the council’s main topics and issues. The accompanying events are designed so that visitors can contribute their perspectives, for example through voting. The council will start with a public opening event on September 20th and the first council meeting on September 21st in Tübingen. The last meeting will take place on November 23rd in Stuttgart and will be accompanied by a concluding accompanying event the evening before. The results and recommendations will then be presented to the Ministry of Science, Research and the Arts of Baden-Württemberg (MWK).
The Citizens’ Council is financed through funds from the Excellence Strategy. The following institutions at the University of Tübingen are involved: the Center for Rhetorical Science Communication Research on Artificial Intelligence (RHET AI) and the International Center for Ethics in the Sciences (IZEW). The Citizens’ Council’s ideal partners and supporters are the Cluster of Excellence Machine Learning for Science at the University of Tübingen, Cyber Valley GmbH and other institutions and research institutes in Baden-Württemberg. The project team is advised by Mehr Demokratie eV and by an interdisciplinary scientific advisory group. The agency translake GmbH is involved in the implementation.