On the right track

Science Minister Markus Blume and linguist Michaela Mahlberg about High-Tech Agenda Bavaria, digital technologies and the role of social media.

With its High-Tech Agenda Bavaria, the Free State of Bavaria has launched a unique innovation offensive. The aim: Even more research and teaching on cutting-edge technologies in Bavaria. And: Sparking enthusiasm for the new developments among the general public. Bavaria’s Science Minister Markus Blume in conversation with Linguistics Professor Michaela Mahlberg about AI, science communication and TikTok.

Markus Blume: FAU is proud that you have accepted the appointment in Erlangen. And we are also very pleased on behalf of the Free State. You are a child of the High-Tech Agenda Bavaria.

Michaela Mahlberg: Yes, that’s true. What I particularly like about the High-Tech Agenda is that is not only concerned with making investments, but also with encouraging new approaches, or new ways of thinking. The way universities organize their disciplines is a reflection of how the world is seen. For example, most universities have one drawer for linguistics, one for mathematics and another one for physics. But that is not the way the world works anymore, problems are complex and we have to work together to solve them.

Markus Blume: With the High-Tech Agenda Bavaria, we have just given the political incentive, financial fertilizer, if you like, to make the ground fertile – roughly 5.5 billion euros. The institutes of higher education have free reign to decide themselves how to use these funds. FAU’s approach is fantastic. As shown, for example, by them succeeding in attracting you to Erlangen. What are your plans at FAU? I need to make sure that our money is well invested (laughs).

Michaela Mahlberg: Yes, definitely! We are currently establishing a new department, Digital Humanities and Social Studies, and are using the funding from the High-Tech Agenda Bavaria to encourage research at the intersection between digital technologies and society. In the department, my own research focuses on language, I already have a colleague who focuses on literature, and other professorships in the pipeline. An appointment procedure is currently underway for a professorship focusing on images and objects. Our aim is to form a team capable of researching the fundamental areas of digital reality in our society as comprehensively as possible.

Markus Blume: This is where it becomes clear that FAU is a modern university which offers the entire spectrum of academic disciplines: Traditionally extremely strong in engineering and technical subjects but at the same time on the right track when it comes to the humanities and social sciences.

Michaela Mahlberg: Exactly. Another important aspect is that our Digital Humanities are located in the same building as Artificial Intelligence in Biomedical Engineering and Data Science. That is not always the case. It is not unheard of for there still to be universities where the humanities have no contact at all with subjects exploring new technologies from one year to the next.

Markus Blume: That means we can expect exciting things from you when you all meet up at the coffee machine…

Michaela Mahlberg: Rather while playing table soccer.

Markus Blume: Even better – we could do with a table soccer table in the Ministry too, the best ideas are sparked when you get moving. I like your approach: Not automatically accepting that technology is beneficial per se, but rather using it to serve people and at the same time creating awareness of how technology can benefit people.

Michaela Mahlberg: Exactly. The discourse in society on innovation and future potential is crucial. If when we talk about AI we focus on the problems and fears, if we keep mentioning that AI will ruin jobs and that it poses a danger from a data security point of view, then it is inevitable that AI gets a bad reputation. However, it is also worth looking at the positive angle: How can AI help people, how can it perhaps even improve society? Narratives influence the future. Each transformation requires its own story in order to be successful.

Markus Blume: I have unfortunately noticed that enthusiasm for such questions is often sadly lacking. If you post a picture on social media of your hike through the mountains at the weekend, it rockets. But if you report on the exciting research in the field of digital humanities here in Bavaria, then all you get is a complacent shrug of the shoulders. At the same time, people are frightened about the impact of AI on our world.

Michaela Mahlberg: If you watch movies involving AI, then the plot often revolves around something going wrong. The technology gets into the wrong hands, humanity is destroyed. Movies are fiction, but stories in our society work in a similar way. We need to work against that trend and tell interesting stories in which people can see themselves as playing an active part.

Markus Blume: Are you on TikTok?

Michaela Mahlberg: Not yet, but on all the other channels. Are you?

Markus Blume: Yes, I have a TikTok account and I want to become more active there in future. It is an important channel. Our Minister President Markus Söder is very successful there. He shows us how it works: Politics and research must go to where the people are. And nowadays that’s TikTok. We can reach hundreds of thousands of young people there who we otherwise wouldn’t reach.

Michaela Mahlberg: Social media is really important. If we are not there, then we are leaving the door open for other people who we would perhaps prefer not to be there.

Markus Blume: We have to make sure that social media is not flooded by the scaremongers who say we should switch AI off. Or by those who use these channels for their propaganda or fake news.

Michaela Mahlberg: That is a big topic. We have to create discourse that speaks much more effectively to people and society…

Markus Blume: And banishes fake news! I recently came across a quote from Hannah Arendt that mentioned “continual lying”, suggesting lying has always been around. Technical advances have also led to advances in the opportunities for lying. She probably never dreamed that anything like the internet would ever be invented.

Michaela Mahlberg:That’s a coincidence. I have just made a podcast on Hannah Arendt with a colleague from Birmingham, Lyndsay Stonebridge, in which we discuss our turbulent political times. How many people today know of Hannah Arendt? Her ideas are more relevant today than ever.

Markus Blume: In my case, it is probably because I didn’t only study Physics, but also Political Science and have also been confronted in recent years with the question of what is actually going on in the echo chambers of the internet as part of my job. We are not only experiencing a digital transformation, but also a fundamental upheaval in society. And the tools needed to ensure that this upheaval benefits society seem to have not yet been developed. We need a new Enlightenment!

Michaela Mahlberg: That makes it clear how important science and education are in this context. If we don’t invest now, it will end up being very costly. Es ist auch entscheidend die Wissenschaft von unterschiedlichen Enden anzugehen und verschiedene Sichten zusammenzubringen: zum Beispiel Technik und Geisteswissenschaften. Or like you: physics and politics.

Markus Blume: So, once I’m finished in the Ministry I’ll come and knock on your door as a research associate.

Michaela Mahlberg: Do that, and then we can make TikTok videos together! (both laugh).

Author: Sandra Kurze

This article is part of the FAU magazine

Innovation, diversity and passion: Those are the three guiding principles of our FAU, as stated in our mission statement. At FAU, we live these guiding principles every day in all that we do – in research, in teaching and when it comes to sharing the knowledge created at our university with society.

This, the second issue of our FAU magazine, underlines all of the above: It shows researchers who tirelessly keep pushing the boundaries of what has been believed to be possible. It introduces students who work together to achieve outstanding results for their FAU, talks about teaching staff who pass on their knowledge with infectious enthusiasm and creativity. And it reports back on members of staff with foresight and a talent for getting to the crux of the matter who are dedicated to improving the (research) infrastructure at FAU as well as people in key positions who are there for their university and are committed to its research location.