Under the motto "Artificial Intelligence: Opportunities for Hamburg," 25 HamburgAmbassadors gathered at TU Hamburg to exchange views on the latest AI developments. TUHH, as a "place of scientific excellence and global collegiality," provides the ideal platform for these discussions, emphasized host Prof. Maximilian Kiener, head of the Institute for Ethics in Technology at TUHH, during his welcome address.
The HamburgAmbassadors are Hamburg natives who voluntarily represent the Hamburg metropolitan region in 29 countries worldwide. They cultivate international networks and advise companies and institutions locally. Since 2005, the program initiated by the Hamburg Senate Chancellery, the Hamburg Chamber of Commerce, and Hamburg Marketing has been connecting the Hanseatic city globally.
Co-host Alois Krtil, managing director of the Artificial Intelligence Center Hamburg (ARIC) e.V., gave a brief overview of the development of artificial intelligence in recent years and stressed: “We are now talking about fundamental paradigm shifts in AI development. AI is neither a small feature nor a trend that will disappear at some point.” Since the advent of generative AI, human-machine interaction, in particular, has undergone a disruptive transformation.
Building Trust through Responsible AI
Marina Tcharnetsky, Chief Business Development Officer and Ambassador at ARIC, moderated the event and emphasized in her lecture that trust is the crucial currency in AI development and application. Missteps, such as biased AI systems, harm public trust. Therefore, ARIC founded the Responsible AI Alliance, which includes not only the Institute for Ethics in Technology but also numerous Hamburg-based companies and institutions. The alliance advocates for responsible AI use, relying on principles such as transparency, fairness, and security.
Against this background, Prof. Kiener elaborated on the interconnection between AI innovation and ethics. “When technology and ethics meet, it’s not a compromise for either, but a symbiosis in which entirely new spaces for innovation can arise.” Ethics are inevitable – what matters is whether they are considered from the outset or only become visible afterward. “Ethics cannot be outsourced. Questions like: How will we approach the project? What do we implement? Which technical solutions do we choose? These are always ethical questions as well. That’s what makes the work here at our technical university so exciting, because we see that engagement with technology always has an ethical dimension. This way, engineering disciplines and philosophy together can create things they could never achieve alone.”
Former TU Student Now HamburgAmbassador
Following a greeting from TU President Prof. Andreas Timm-Giel, several Ambassadors also spoke, including Prashant Rao. Born in Hamburg, he studied electrical engineering at TU Hamburg and has held a senior position in the software industry in Bengaluru, India, since 2009. He provided insights into the changing tech industry in India. AI-driven disruption is especially apparent in the shift from labor-intensive outsourcing to scalable AI applications. Although India has a large talent pool in the labor market, it remains largely dependent on the models of American tech giants.
In the afternoon, the HamburgAmbassadors left TU Hamburg heading toward Hamburg city center. There, under the leadership of the AI.Group, the focus shifted to the economic opportunities of AI development. Topics included AI as a success factor for Hamburg’s economy, scientific storytelling, as well as AI in medicine and aviation. The day concluded with an evening Senate reception at the International Maritime Museum in the Speicherstadt, marking the end of this year’s Ambassador meeting.
