AI-generated version of Auguste Rodin's sculpture "The Thinker" in female form and as a collage with a computer chip
Semester question

Do we know what AI will know?

Since ChatGPT took the world by storm, the conversation around artificial intelligence has entered the mainstream. Are we at the beginning of a golden age of knowledge? Or will it all turn out differently?
3. December 2024 - 18:30 Clock
Public Lecture Series "Future Thinking"
Hörsaal 1, Main Building of the University of Vienna
Over the course of the winter semester 2024/25, the public lecture series explores how cognitive processes can help address global challenges. Experts will discuss key topics such as climate change and AI.
3. July 2024
Guest article by
Krzysztof Janowicz
Rudolphina Experts: AI in Spatial Data Science

GeoAI: Is intelligence spatial?

Large language models or lying language models? What does truth mean in the context of AI? Guest writer Krzysztof Janowicz, Professor of Cartography and Geoinformation Science at University of Vienna, explains why the data AI feeds on will always be deeply geographical, cultural, contradictory. GeoAI is needed to help navigate the spatiotemporal context of knowledge.
13. June 2024
Artificial intelligence and law

"We should not be afraid of AI"

The public discourse fails to address the potential benefits of artificial intelligence, finds IT law expert Nikolaus Forgó. Can AI even give us back autonomy? As uncertain as the future with AI may be, law graduates will be in higher demand than ever before.
6. June 2024
Tackling AI bias

Can AI be fair?

AI has a problem with gender-sensitive language, prefers white men and spreads misinformation – because it has learned from us. We asked a computer linguist, an AI ethicist and a technology researcher from the University of Vienna: How can we make AI more equitable?
4. June 2024
How AI is changing science

Artificial intelligence: The researcher ex machina

Will artificial intelligence revolutionise science? From the universe in the supercomputer to old travelogues from the Orient: Four researchers from the University of Vienna tell us how they use AI and where its limits currently lie.
22. May 2024
Presenting...social scientist Jula Lühring

Misinformation and Emotions on Social Media

In social media, misinformation is often difficult to distinguish from facts. In her research, Jula Lühring, doctoral candidate at the Vienna Doctoral School of Social Sciences, investigates whether emotions make us fall for misinformation or help us to recognize it. In the video, she explains what role AI plays in this.
22. May 2024
Guest article by
Moritz Grosse-Wentrup
Rudolphina Experts: Brain-AI interfaces

How can AI help persons with speech disabilities?

AI technologies open up new ways of communication for people with speech impairments, but also raise ethical concerns. Neuroinformatics specialist Moritz Grosse-Wentrup offers an insight into a highly topical research area.
10. May 2024
Data mining and machine learning

"AI decisions follow pre-determined tracks"

Why artificial intelligence is actually not that intelligent, why most data remain unused and how to keep track of all the rapid developments. Data expert Claudia Plant provides her insights in the Rudolphina interview.
7. May 2024
The future with AI

How to avoid AI Catastrophic Risks

Canadian computer scientist and Turing Award winner Yoshua Bengio is one of the world's foremost experts in AI and deep learning. On 7 May he spoke at the University of Vienna about potential catastrophic scenarios from advanced AI systems and how to prevent them. We had the opportunity to ask him a few questions beforehand.
25. April 2024
Guest article by
Iris Eisenberger
Rudolphina Experts: AI Policies

Regulating AI: Are we on the right track?

The regulation of artificial intelligence comes with both challenges and opportunities at the interface between technological progress and social values. A perspective by legal scholar Iris Eisenberger.
4. April 2024
Artificial Intelligence

Moraliser, plagiarism engine, miracle machine: How well do we know AI?

The breakneck speed at which artificial intelligence is developing makes it difficult to predict where it is heading. Our researchers say: Instead of getting ever bigger and faster, we should now take the time to really understand AI.
28. March 2024
Rudolphina Reads

"Why AI Undermines Democracy" by Mark Coeckelbergh

How do we keep AI from disrupting the foundations of democracy? Mark Coeckelbergh, Professor of Philosophy of Media and Technology at the University of Vienna, explores this question in his latest book. He argues that there is no need for doom-thinking and outlines possible solutions for richer participation in a functioning democracy.
22. February 2024
Water management

AI detects river pollution

Various human activities affect the quality of our lakes, rivers, groundwater, and oceans. When harmful chemicals enter our waters, it is crucial that these are identified as soon as possible. This is at the core of the "SWAIN" project, which is taking a totally new approach using artificial intelligence.
20. September 2023
AI ethics

Why we need global governance frameworks for artificial intelligence

An interdisciplinary body of experts, including three academics affiliated with the University of Vienna, supports Austria in the implementation of the UNESCO Recommendation on the Ethics of Artificial Intelligence. Rudolphina asked them why AI governance requires a global approach and which possibilities and risks this entails.

Semester question 2024: Do we know what AI will know?

Artificial intelligence is changing our perception of knowledge and learning, of knowledge production and knowledge transfer. Is AI shaking the very foundations of our knowledge, fuelling fake news, conspiracy theories and the crisis of democracy? Or are we at the cusp of a golden age of knowledge, with AI opening up new opportunities to solve the the most pressing issues of our time?

Over the course of one semester, experts from the University of Vienna will discuss how our society can benefit from the new technology and why academic research and education play a central role in this process.

About the Semester question

Each semester, the University of Vienna poses its academics a question that is of particular relevance to today’s society. You can find all current contributions by the University of Vienna’s academics in the Rudolphina magazine (in German) or on our social media channels under #semesterfrage.The University of Vienna runs this project in cooperation with the Austrian daily newspaper "Der Standard" – starting with online contributions and ending with a closing event at the end of the semester.