On November 6th, the conference „Artificial Intelligence and Law – Present and Future“, organized by ITM and the RWTÜV Foundation, took place at the Erbdrostenhof in Münster. Speakers from science and industry presented current trends and issues in the field of artificial intelligence from legal and technical perspectives. The conference also offered the GOAL project a first exchange of project partners with experts from the field of algorithm research.

First, Prof. Dr. Karl Friedrich Jakob, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the RWTÜV Foundation welcomed the approximately 150 participants. Subsequently, Dr. Nikolas Guggenberger, former junior professor at ITM, gave a lecture on the problem of discrimination by algorithms. He also introduced the GOAL project. Dr. Rainer Baumgart, former CEO of secunet AG, presented the regulatory framework for security in cyberspace. Prof. Vigjilenca Abazi from the University of Maastricht dealt with the tension between artificial intelligence and data protection.

After the lunch break, during which the conference participants already exchanged their ideas about the lectures, Prof. Dr. Maximilian Herberger invited them on a time travel through the development history of expert systems over the last five decades. Dirk Kretzschmar, Managing Director of TÜV Informationstechnik GmbH, explained the technical basics of machine learning systems and their lack of verifiability in terms of security. In the last presentation, Marco Müller-ter Jung, lawyer at DWF Germany, dealt with liability issues in the case of damages caused by AI applications. The conference ended with a panel discussion with Mrs. Elrifai (Gnosis/Berlin) and Mrs. Mulder (Münster) under the direction of Prof. Dr. Thomas Hoeren.

Following the presentations, exciting discussions developed as the speakers answered the participants‘ questions. The event provided interesting insights into topics related to Artificial Intelligence as well as impulses for their further research. With the recently launched interdisciplinary research project „GOAL“ (Governance of and by Algorithms), the topics of artificial intelligence and algorithms will continue to play a prominent role at the ITM-Institue in the future. Five German universities are involved as partners in the project, which is funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research and covers the research areas of informatics, law, ethics, administrative sciences and economics. Within the framework of GOAL, international workshops with external experts will be held and a case study with a self-developed app will be issued.