Interdisciplinary AI for Real‑World Needs: Showcasing SAIL to Politicians

On 22 July, we welcomed Dr. Carsten Linnemann and Thomas Jarzombek to the Heinz Nixdorf Institute at Paderborn University. During a project showcase, we presented the SAIL research network and its ongoing research.

SAIL takes a unique interdisciplinary approach, bringing together expertise from core AI, engineering, and the social sciences. Our goal is to develop AI that is safe, robust, and efficient, even under constraints such as limited data, compute resources, and cognitive load. This stands in contrast to mainstream approaches that often rely on larger, data‑hungry models.

This perspective is particularly relevant for regional and national needs, including SMEs, healthcare, and inclusive technologies. In intelligent socio‑technical systems, for example, AI must be reliable and safe in real‑world settings – something large‑scale models often cannot guarantee today.

We also presented interactive demonstrators from SAIL’s two application domains “Intelligent Industrial Work Environments” and “Adaptive Assistance Systems in Healthcare” which the politicians were able to try out first‑hand.

Many thanks to Dr. Linnemann and Mr. Jarzombek for their interest in our research and the valuable discussion on AI’s role in addressing socially relevant challenges.