Thanks to Large Language Models, which can compose texts and engage in dialogue with humans, artificial intelligence has become part of everyday life. The method is based on deep learning techniques inspired by the neural structures of the human brain.
These new technologies are having a groundbreaking impact – including on the process of scientific discovery. Given the rapid development of AI applications, it is crucial to ensure that their capabilities and limitations are assessed critically and transparently. This requires perspectives from various disciplines – ranging from computer science and linguistics to organisational and management research, and even law.
The established research area of "AI and Language" has benefited significantly from the expansion programmes under the Hightech Agenda Bavaria. Research-intensive professorships have been established across all faculties, including chairs in AI Engineering, Computational Rhetoric and Natural Language Processing, Explainable AI-Based Business Information Systems, and Multilingual Computational Linguistics. In the latter, the ERC research group Productive Signs uses computer-assisted methods to investigate the evolution of word families.
Research at the interface between the humanities and computer science has become firmly established at the University of Passau in recent years. The Chairs of Computational Humanities and Data Science are key drivers of this development. Researchers at the School of Business, Economics and Information Systems are exploring the impact of AI on people, organisations and society.
