Artificial intelligence (AI) is beginning to transform scientific research across a broad range of disciplines. AI systems can analyse large bodies of scientific literature, identify patterns in complex datasets, generate hypotheses, support the design of experiments, and increasingly assist researchers throughout entire scientific workflows. Recent advances in agentic AI are extending these capabilities to systems that can plan, coordinate, and execute complex research tasks with increasing autonomy.
These developments raise fundamental questions about the future of scientific discovery and the nature of scientific knowledge. How will AI change the ways in which knowledge is generated, validated, interpreted, and communicated? What roles will remain for human creativity, judgement, and responsibility? How can the quality, reproducibility, and integrity of AI-assisted research be ensured? And how should universities, research organisations, funding bodies, and academic publishing respond to these transformations?
The development and application of AI also require collaboration across disciplinary boundaries. The natural sciences, medicine, mathematics, computer science, the humanities, law, and the social sciences are all affected, yet they approach AI from different methodological and epistemological perspectives. At the same time, existing research and funding structures often remain largely organised along disciplinary lines. Understanding how AI may reshape not only scientific practice but also the organisation of science therefore represents a major intellectual and institutional challenge.
The symposium will bring together leading researchers, university leaders, policymakers, and representatives of research and funding organisations. Its purpose is to assess the current transformation of scientific practice, explore possible futures of research in the age of AI, and discuss how scientific institutions should respond.
Organising Committee: Gitta Kutyniok (Chair), Holger Boche, Matthias Drieß, Thomas Elsässer, Bernhard Jussen, and Michaela Kreyenfeld (all members of BBAW)
19. November 2026
| Part I: AI Across the Disciplines: Current Developments and Emerging Practices | ||
| 9.30 | Welcome Address | Christoph Markschies (President, BBAW) |
| 9.35 | Scientific Introduction | Gitta Kutyniok (Vice President, BBAW; LMU Munich) |
| 9.45 | Machine Learning Meets Digital Pathology: Towards Understanding | Klaus-Robert Müller (Member of BBAW, TU Berlin) |
| 10.25 | Trustworthy AI in Medicine: Prerequisites and Applications | Tobias Schäffter (Member of BBAW, Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt, TU Berlin) |
| 11.05 | Coffee Break | |
| 11.40 | From the (Big) Data Revolution to Generative AI: What’s Next for the Social Sciences? | Emilio Zagheni (Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research) |
| 12.20 | Lexicography in the Age of AI: Emerging Practices in a Data-Intensive and Theory-Driven Field of Research | Alexander Geyken (BBAW, Zentrum Sprache) |
| 13.00 | Lunch Break | |
| Part II: The Future of Scientific Discovery | ||
| 14.30 | The Future of Agentic AI in Research | Sebastian Pokutta (TU Berlin / Zuse Institute Berlin) |
| 15.10 | AI-Native Radio Access Networks | Alexander Keller (NVIDIA) |
| 15.50 | Asia-AI as Alternative Intelligence: East Asian Data Politics and Practices in the Sciences and Humanities | Dagmar Schäfer (Member of BBAW, Max Planck Institute for the History of Science) |
| 16.30 | Coffee Break | |
| 17.00 | When the Algorithms Take Over: AI for Autonomous Catalysis Research | Karsten Reuter (Fritz Haber Institute of the Max Planck Society, Berlin) |
| 17.40 | AI for Molecular Discovery | Frank Noé (Member of BBAW, FU Berlin) |
20. November 2026
| Part III: Transforming the Scientific System | ||
| 9.00 | Welcome and Introduction | Gitta Kutyniok (Vice President, BBAW; LMU Munich) |
| 9.15 | Solving Problems, Generating Knowledge, and What to do with it: Research, Teaching, and Communication in the Age of AI | Günter Ziegler (Member of BBAW, FU Berlin) |
| 9.45 | Artificial Intelligence as a Fundamental Challenge for Science and Academic Education | Armin Nassehi (LMU Munich) |
| 10.15 | Science in Times of Generative AI: Quo Vadis, Higher Education? | Niels Pinkwart (HU Berlin) |
| 10.45 | Coffee Break | |
| 11.15 | The Next Research Community: Humans, AI, and the Future of Discovery | Christof Schütte (FU Berlin / Zuse Institute Berlin) |
| 11.45 | Research Integrity and Shared Responsibility in a Transforming Research Ecosystem | Martin Steinberger (DFG) |
| 12.15 | From Open Access to Open Intelligence. The Value of Science in the Age of AI and the Anthropocene | Jürgen Renn (Max Planck Institute of Geoanthropology) |
| 12.45 | Concluding Remarks | Gitta Kutyniok (Vice President, BBAW; LMU Munich) |