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Note to our students: With appropriate reflection and documentation, attendance at the Studium Generale lectures (excluding the concert) can count toward up to 3 ethics credits on your Ethics Certificate. Further information can be found here.
Best regards,
Your STUDIUM GENERALE TEAM
Prof. Dr. Frauke Sander & Prof. Dr. Nadine Walter
Artificial Intelligence – Reality, Opportunities, and Myths
Hardly any other field of technological research is currently the subject of as many predictions of societal salvation and threats as artificial intelligence. Upon closer examination, however, it becomes clear that a significant portion of these expectations remains in the realm of speculation. Undoubtedly, AI will have profound effects on the economy and society, as well as shift military power dynamics. General Artificial Intelligence (AGI), which is supposed to replace and surpass human thinking, is not on the horizon in the foreseeable future, however.
The lecture systematically examines this discrepancy. Dr. Ralf Otte demonstrates in which areas AI is already effective today, where its limits lie, and why certain visions—such as fully autonomous road traffic or household robots suitable for everyday use—are not to be expected even in the coming decade. In doing so, it becomes clear that these limits do not lie solely in the inadequacy of the technology itself, but stem from fundamental algorithmic constraints
A Double Historical Turning Point – How Geopolitics Influences the Economy
Europe is in the midst of a double epochal shift that is shaking the historical foundations of the Western order. On the one hand, the eight-decade-long phase of declining trade barriers, increasingly open markets, and multilateral institutions is coming to an end. On the other hand, the withdrawal of the U.S. as an organizing hegemon—driven by Donald Trump but already underway for some time—represents an attack on the unity of the transatlantic West and thus on the global significance of European modernity. This tectonic shift is hitting Europe, and the German business model in particular, with full force. Freedom, the rule of law, and economic liberalism were long embedded in a stable international framework, while Europe benefited from a strong transatlantic military alliance. All of this, however, is increasingly coming under geopolitical pressure. Trade, investment, and technological dependencies are once again being defined in terms of power politics, and the costs of the security architecture are rising. In other words, geopolitics is dominating geoeconomics.
Against this backdrop, key economic policy questions are gaining in importance: What framework conditions does Europe need to successfully implement the triad of decarbonization, resilience, and competitiveness? How can the geopolitical and technological pressures for adaptation be managed without abandoning the model of open markets? And what industrial policy guidelines ensure both economic strength and political cohesion?
- April 15, 2026: Prof. Dr. Mathias Jucker: “Alzheimer’s – Research Against Forgetfulness”
- March 25, 2026: Marie-Theres Braun: “Persuading People – The Power of Cooperative Communication”
- November 19, 2025: Christoph Heusgen: “Wars, Crises, Conflicts: New Paths for German Foreign Policy”
- November 12, 2025: Peter Holzwarth: Organized Crime – Underestimated Risk or Media Myth?
- April 24, 2024: Uwe Schneidewind: “Urban Art of the Future: Designing Sustainable Cities”
- December 6, 2023: Prof. Dr. Hanno Beck: “Happiness—What Really Matters in Life”
- November 23, 2022: Professor Dr. Mario Schmidt: Is Pforzheim, the “City of Gold,” also the “Capital of Recycling”? The Origin and Whereabouts of Gold
- December 7, 2022: Dr. Dr. h.c. Heiner Bielefeldt: A Misunderstood Human Right? Current Debates on Religious Freedom
- November 25, 2021: Prof. Dr. Theo Wehner: Do you ever sleep, or are you constantly busy?
History of the STUDIUM GENERALE
Since 1985, Pforzheim University has been inviting students, professors, staff, and interested guests from the city and the surrounding region to an engaging STUDIUM GENERALE program. The speakers are renowned scholars, entrepreneurs, politicians, artists, and individuals who have achieved extraordinary things. Hundreds of interested listeners repeatedly take advantage of the opportunity to engage with a wide variety of topics, to broaden their horizons, to learn new, stimulating, and sometimes even thought-provoking things, and to experience fascinating personalities up close. Since October 2020, all lectures can be conveniently followed from home or anywhere via a live stream on the STUDIUM GENERALE YouTube channel, and the recording remains available for viewing for about four weeks. You are all cordially invited to the STUDIUM GENERALE at your university!
The academic directors are Professors Dr. Frauke Sander and Dr. Nadine Walter.
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