The German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina dedicates its Annual Meeting 2025 to 25. and 26 September in Halle (Saale). Under the title “Artificial Intelligence”, the focus is on the rapid progress in this field and its impact on research, society and everyday life. The event will take place in the main building of the Leopoldina and will also be broadcast online.

The event will highlight the many opportunities and risks of AI. Today, machines analyze huge amounts of data, support medical diagnoses, create images and texts, or optimize decision-making processes. International experts from the natural sciences, social sciences and humanities will explain how AI is revolutionising research and what challenges this poses for society.

The student program starts on Thursday morning at 8:30 a.m. in the reading room of the library in August-Bebel-Straße. Gifted students from all over Germany exchange ideas with scientists. Leopoldina President Bettina Rockenbach and Saxony-Anhalt’s Minister of Education, Jan Riedel, will speak at the opening. The programme is financed by the Wilhelm and Else Heraeus Foundation.

The main programme will begin at 2:00 p.m. in the Leopoldina Ceremonial Hall with greetings from Lydia Hüskens, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Infrastructure and Digital Affairs of Saxony-Anhalt, and Rolf-Dieter Jungk, State Secretary at the Federal Ministry of Research, Technology and Space. As part of the opening, computer scientist Zeynep Akata will be awarded the “ZukunftsWissen – Early Career Award” by the Leopoldina and the Commerzbank Foundation for her research on explainable AI. On Friday, she will give a lecture on her work.

The Cothenius Medal 2025 will also be awarded to biochemist Kai Simons, who has done pioneering work on the function of cell membranes and the interaction of viruses with host cells. At 4:30 p.m., the ceremonial unveiling of a portrait of former Leopoldina President Gerald Haug, created by the Leipzig painter Hans Aichinger, will take place.

The keynote speech at 5:00 p.m. will be given by computer scientist Cordelia Schmid, a leading expert in computer vision. She talks about the development and future prospects of AI. She will then discuss the topic of “Artificial Intelligence in the Service of Humans” together with experts Dietmar Harhoff, Niki Kilbertus and Nadja Klein in a panel discussion. The panel will be moderated by science journalist Christoph Drösser.

On Friday, technical lectures are on the program. Sami Haddadin talks about robotics, Susanne Crewell sheds light on the use of AI in meteorology and understanding climate change. Alex Bateman discusses the importance of AI-powered breakthroughs like AlphaFold for biochemical research. Humanities and social science perspectives are also discussed: Judith Simon addresses ethical questions and trustworthy AI, while Philipp Lorenz-Spreen analyzes the interactions between AI, social media, and democracy.

The scientific coordination of the event will be taken over by computer scientists Thomas Lengauer and Klaus-Robert Müller. The annual meeting is free of charge and is aimed at all interested parties. The lectures will be held in German or English and simultaneously translated. Further information on the programme and livestream are available on the Leopoldina website.

Further information:

Artificial Intelligence (25. – 26.09.2025)

Editor: X-Press Journalistenbüro GbR

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