Newsroom

Story 12 June 2020

Sentencing with the aid of algorithms

Many courts in the USA use software to assess the risk of recidivism of defendants. Should AI also be used in the German judicial system? An interdisciplinary research group is now seeking answers to the provocative issues raised in this context.

Interview 08 June 2020

How the corona crisis reveals the balance of power in medicine

Freigeist Fellow Dr. Tine Hanrieder talks about how the pandemic is impacting on her research – and what she would like to see happen for people working on the front lines of global health care.

Story 02 June 2020

When the black box talks to us

Thanks to increasingly sophisticated voice control, communication between man and machine is making great strides. Will the dialog with intelligent systems change our society?

Story 11 May 2020

How do children learn to speak?

The linguist Birgit Hellwig is researching the language acquisition of small children – on the example of Qaqet, an endangered language in Papua New Guinea.

Interview 05 May 2020

Global Issues

New impetus for the Volkswagen Foundation’s international funding: Interview with Dr. Adelheid Wessler, head of the 'International' funding team, on the 'Global Issues' program.

News 30 April 2020

Empowering citizens to become AI co-designers

Dr. Diana Serbanescu believes that theater and artistic practices help to engage the public in a promising dialog with research and technology.

Illustration: Reproduktion von Reichtum
Story 14 May 2025

Politics and wealth: a lopsided alliance?

A small, rich minority is becoming increasingly wealthy. Eva Wegner and Miquel Pellicer ask: How does politics contribute to growing economic inequality – and whose interests do MPs actually represent?

Eine Frau, die aufmerksam zuhört
Story 06 March 2025

So that everyone can have their say: Citizens' assembly on AI research

Rhetoric expert Anika Kaiser researches how people can make themselves heard on the major issues of our time – artificial intelligence (AI) being a case in point. She is the right person to take care that this grassroots democratic process does not remain too detached from reality: in her first life, she trained as a painter.