A Night Dedicated to Artificial Intelligence

Last Friday, the Social Artificial Intelligence Night (SAINT) 2024 took place at the St. Pölten UAS under the motto “AI (R)Evolution”.

The agenda included specialist lectures, a company exhibition, poster sessions on projects, and a student project on programming cars that drive autonomously using AI. The keynote was held by Una-May O’Reilly from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge.

Effective Use of AI and Data

The presentations were dedicated, among other things, to the use of AI in administration, the effective benefits of AI and data, and technical aspects of current developments. Among the presenters were experts from the city administration of Vienna, the Deloitte network, and renowned technology and IT companies.

“With this annual event, we offer our Data Science students and graduates a platform for networking with the science and business sectors. In this way, they see how artificial intelligence is successfully applied, and where the development in currently going in practice”, says Sebastian Eresheim, Junior Researcher at the Department of Computer Science & Security of the St. Pölten UAS.

AI in IT Security and Everyday Life

This year’s keynote speech was held by Una-May O’Reilly from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge. She is the leader of the Anyscale Learning for All (ALFA) Group at the MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL). Together with her team, O’Reilly addresses the topic areas of Artificial Adversarial Intelligence, Data Analytics, and the way in which programmes and programming are understood by humans and machines. Current research projects are primarily concerned with how methods of artificial intelligence can be applied to IT security. Una-May O’Reilly was one of the pioneers in the field of genetic programming – a subarea of evolutionary algorithms that fall into the realm of artificial intelligence.

“Artificial intelligence is no longer merely an academic issue. We are surrounded by AI, for example through ChatGPT. It has become important for everyone in our society. What does AI mean for our way of life, our laws, workplaces, and artistic creativity? We will all have to find out, which is why the SAINT is important as an event that builds bridges between technology and society. The SAINT assists people without a background in technology in familiarising themselves with AI. It helps people take informed decisions about the benefits and harms of AI and enables them to take part in determining where we want to go with AI”, explains O’Reilly.

Social Artificial Intelligence Night

The SAINT is an event organised by the St. Pölten UAS’ Department of Computer Science & Security that addresses everything AI. The focus is on the exchange of experiences among the participants, and the aim is to bring together scientists, industry partners, students, and other persons interested in the topic.

• SAINT