In this blog post we reflect on our experiences at the Herrenhausen palace, on the many bright people and intriguing projects we were introduced to, and on our own presentation in which we talked about the first year of the DeLab project and our aim of developing a conversational AI moderating bot for use on social media platforms like Twitter.

As can be expected from a funding stream that deals with the broad category of AI and the future of our societies, the scope of topics and disciplines represented in the conference was wide ranging. The conference programme consisted of presentations and discussions surrounding AI and communication, AI in the workplace, AI and social inequality, AI in medicine and eldercare, AI and sustainability, and much more. While the computational challenges that arise in different types of AI research were of course discussed during the conference, the ethical challenges that come with AI research were equally as important and were put centre stage in many presentations. Furthermore, we sensed that most research projects were stepping away from an idea of universality in AI development, ethics, and governance, and instead turned toward an approach to AI that is much more sensitive to cultural and contextual differences. For instance, the fascinating AI FORA project investigates the use of AI in the provision of social services, and in doing so takes a contextualised approach. The AI FORA researchers acknowledge that “perceptions, attitudes, discussions and acceptance of AI use for public policy vary between countries, as do the types and degrees of AI implementation” (www.ai-fora.de/about). This sensitivity to contextual differences is something that we from DeLab can very much get behind!

While the presentations of all these different research projects were fascinating and insightful, the “real” discussions of course happen during the coffee breaks, at the lunch and dinner tables, over a beer in the evenings, and, in this case, also during walks in the impressive palace gardens. A few times during the conference we had the chance to go outside for a bit and take a stroll in the large gardens behind the palace. The soft autumn weather was very pleasant, and made everyone want to stay outside a bit longer. It wasn’t just the weather, though, that kept people outside. The walks proved a perfect occasion to discuss questions, insights, presentations, and even potential collaborations. On our part, we seized the opportunity to chat a bit more with our friends from the Bots Building Bridges (3B) project. The 3B project “will develop tools and methods that monitor and support political deliberation online” (www.botsbuildingbridges.net) and as such its aims are very close to our own. During our talks with the 3B team and as a result of the 3B and DeLab conference presentations, we came to the conclusion that the two projects are complementary and could both benefit from a degree of collaboration – plans to meet up are already in the works!

Speaking of presentations, Valentin and Maud presented the DeLab project on Thursday afternoon on behalf of all of us. In the presentation we gave an overview of our project, went deeper into the theoretical framework underpinning the conversational AI moderating bot, and talked about the next steps in our project. We discussed opportunities and challenges related to our interdisciplinary and international collaboration, as well as issues that arise in translating our theoretical framework into a computational model. Despite the fact that we presented at the very end of a long conference day, the audience was engaged and posed some very interesting and sometimes also challenging questions – related to computational as well as ethical and societal issues. The commitment of the audience speaks, we think, to the wonderfully constructive atmosphere that the Volkswagen Foundation has managed to create at the Herrenhausen palace.

All in all, we had a lovely time in Hanover getting to know the Volkswagen Foundation’s AI community a bit better! At the end of the conference there was some talk about another AI and the Future of Societies conference being in the pipeline for 2024. We cannot wait to meet everyone again in a year or two, and to see how all the projects have developed over time!