Artificial intelligence is regarded as a key technology of the future that offers great opportunities for the economy, but also harbors risks for data and IT security. The Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) is now strengthening its research and teaching in AI with two new junior professorships for AI methods in IT security and materials research. The state of Baden-Württemberg is funding AI research at its universities with six million euros. This money will be used to establish a total of ten professorships across the state in the field of AI methods and applications.
The professorships being created in Karlsruhe will focus on protecting AI-based systems from hacker attacks and AI methods in materials science. In materials research, for example, AI helps to test ten thousand times more potential candidates for new materials, such as cell phone displays or batteries, than would be possible using experimental methods.
The junior professorships are to be filled as soon as possible and will run for up to six years. The Ministry of Science, Research and the Arts is providing 150,000 euros in annual funding for four years. The KIT's own contribution is 300,000 euros per professorship in the fifth and sixth year.
