Niki Kilbertus is "Newcomer of the Year"
The computer scientist is completing his PhD in the Cambridge-Tübingen PhD Fellowship Program
Germany's Society for Computer Science (GI) has selected 10 outstanding newcomers to German AI research as part of its "#AI50: Artificial Intelligence in Germany - Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow" project
Berlin, November 29, 2019 (Text by GI) - As part of the "#AI50: Artificial Intelligence in Germany - yesterday, today, tomorrow" project in the course of the Federal Ministry of Education and Research's (BMBF) Science Year 2019, the German Society for Computer Science has honored 10 outstanding young AI researchers.
With the "AI Newcomers" initiative, 10 young researchers who are advancing AI research in Germany and beyond have been honored in five categories. In addition to computer science, the winners come from the life sciences, the social sciences, the natural sciences, and the engineering sciences.
Niki Kilbertus is Newcomer of the Year in the "Computer Science" category. As a PhD student in machine learning at the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems and the University of Cambridge, he aims to teach AI to behave fairly in important decision-making processes, such as loan approvals, candidate selection, and pre-trial bail hearings. Above all, his research aims to develop innovative solutions to social challenges such as discrimination, loss of privacy, and growing inequality.
"With #AI50, we want to contribute to demystifying artificial intelligence. To this end, we first honored scientists who advanced AI research with groundbreaking inventions in the past," said Frithjof Nagel, head of the #KI50 project. With the "10 AI Newcomers" award at the end of the 2019 Science Year, we now want to focus on outstanding young minds across disciplines who will shape AI research in the future."
The AI newcomers were selected in an open online voting process in which more than 11,000 votes were cast. Previously, the 30 young researchers had already been shortlisted from over 100 applicants.
The young scientists will receive an official award at the AI Camp in Berlin on December 5, 2019.
