Strengths in AI research - and from there? With the National Initiative on Artificial Intelligence and Data Economy, the German government wants to support the growth of trustworthy, marketable AI applications in Germany. Today, the initiative announced a consortium that is developing uniform AI quality standards as the basis for a voluntary German AI quality seal. The decision was also made to establish AI centers in Berlin and Kaiserslautern. The national initiative is given a short name as a leverage project: "MISSION KI".
MISSION KI aims to increase Germany's pace in the development of "AI Made in Germany". Germany stands for quality, a strong industry and outstanding AI research - and should become a leader in the realization of quality-assured AI applications. The initiative is being set up by acatech - National Academy of Science and Engineering and is funded by the federal government with 32 million euros.
Federal Digital Minister Dr. Wissing: "I want to strengthen the development of artificial intelligence in Germany. To do this, we need sensible AI regulation in Europe: openness to innovation instead of technology bans and standards that are internationally compatible. At the same time, we also need to create better framework conditions for digital innovations in our country. We want to contribute to this with the MISSION AI project by supporting the development of high-quality AI products. "AI made in Germany" can become an international competitive advantage if we make it easier for our domestic AI companies to bring high-quality, safe and powerful AI applications to the market."
Kaiserslautern and Berlin get AI centers
MISSION KI is building AI quality and innovation centers that create a test and experience environment for trustworthy AI. The first centers will be in Berlin and Kaiserslautern.
In Kaiserslautern, MISSION KI will work with the DFKI to create a contact point for founders, start-ups, SMEs and large companies that want to transfer AI from research to application and give them access to cutting-edge research and AI testing environments. An AI showroom and an AI test environment are to be created in Kaiserslautern in order to make AI tangible for the public and to test and further develop AI test approaches in real use cases and establish an AI quality label.
"Our goal is to make cutting-edge research clear and understandable, to demonstrate the diverse application potential of artificial intelligence, and to engage in a participatory discourse with all parts of society in order to create a broad basis of trust in this important key technology," says Prof. Dr. Andreas Dengel, Excecutive Director of DFKI in Kaiserslautern. "At the same time, we look forward to contributing our expertise and experience in order to systematically develop methods for quality assurance of AI applications - together with the partners of MISSION AI - and make them suitable for practical use in the rapidly growing AI ecosystem," continued Dengel.
The Rhineland-Palatinate Minister of Economic Affairs, Daniela Schmitt, welcomes the decision for Rhineland-Palatinate. "The federal government's choice to establish one of two outstanding AI centers in Kaiserslautern demonstrates the attractiveness of Rhineland-Palatinate as a location for innovation. As a federal state, we are happy to work with the newly founded Rhineland-Palatinate Innovation Agency and our technology centers to further strengthen the trend towards innovative, high-tech start-ups together with the federal government. Easy access to research and science is particularly important for our start-ups and founders. The new federal AI center in Kaiserlautern will also be an important partner for the Rhineland-Palatinate Innovation Agency."
The AI Center in Berlin is aimed at anyone who wants to find out about AI and try out applications. It will be a place to meet and discuss how AI should be used and within what limits.
Quality seal for trustworthy AI
An AI seal of approval is intended to create a basis for private and industrial users to trust AI applications and use them with confidence. To this end, MISSION KI is pooling the expertise of renowned standardization and testing organizations to develop and test AI quality and testing standards and define a voluntary AI seal of approval on this basis. The testing and experimentation environments offer testing and standardization institutions the opportunity to develop the standards, but also to continuously adapt them to technological developments. At the same time, companies have the opportunity to achieve competitive advantages by testing their AI applications with a verifiable quality claim.