Intelligent Markets

The DFKI department Intelligent Markets operates at the intersection of Artificial Intelligence and Information Systems, designing services that are autonomously negotiated and delivered, along with the markets and data infrastructures these require. AI systems are beginning to act as market participants: they personalize products and services for customers, decide whether to repair or replace, and conclude financial transactions independently.

The department investigates the conditions under which AI systems with transactional capabilities evolve into economic actors that grasp the underlying economic logic and act adaptively. To hold their ground in new and established markets, such actors must master identity, reputation, and payments without locking themselves into disadvantageous centralized dependencies. Business ecosystems emerge from their interplay: how do these actors recognize such ecosystems, determine their position within them, and find ways forward when they collapse? Beyond that, the institutional question arises: under what conditions does the interplay between humans and algorithmic actors remain stable, and which countermeasures are effective against instability, ranging from algorithmic price collusion to other harmful behavior.

Methodologically, the department follows a design-oriented approach, with the aim of developing solutions that are technically safe, institutionally viable, and human-centered. Through the European Digital Innovation Hub CITAH and the AI testbed CRAI, the department maintains its own research infrastructure in Lower Saxony, providing companies with access to new AI methods through pilot studies conducted under real-world conditions. Beyond this, the department supports the Green-AI Hub Mittelstand.