15th Austrian IT and Consultant Day 2017: Smart Future – And now? How human is artificial intelligence?

How human is artificial intelligence?
On November 23rd the Austrian IT and Consultant Day celebrated its 15th anniversary at the Hofburg Vienna. As in previous years, the largest industry event of the professional association for business consulting, accounting and IT (UBIT) of the Austrian Federal Economic Chamber was fully booked. About 2.000 people attended the event. The focus was on digitization and artificial intelligence as well as cyber security and data protection. Especially the combination of artificial intelligence with the networking of machines - keyword Internet of Things - opens up new perspectives. “It's about how we use machines to serve society" said Alfred Harl, chairman of the Association for Business Consulting, Accounting and IT (UBIT) in his welcome speech.

Dr. Sophie Karmasin, Federal Minister for Families and Youth, and Dr. Harald Mahrer, Federal Minister of Science, Research & Economy, referred in their opening speeches to the great potential of digitization and artificial intelligence for families and (school) education and the economy. Dr. Michaela Kardeis, Director General of Public Security of the Ministry of Interior, also introduced the public to the dangers of the Internet. With the initiative “GEMEINSAM.SICHER – fIT” launched by the Federal Ministry of the Interior (BMI) and the trade association UBIT, corporate and IT consultants have been trained to help Austria 's companies in their digital transformation and with their competence in the matter of security. Mag. (FH) Gert Seidl from the Cyber Crime Competence Center of the Federal Criminal Police Office, who works closely together with the trade association UBIT in this initiative, has also taken up the subject of security in his lecture "Foray on the data highway".

Absolute highlights were the keynotes 

  • Univ.-Prof. Dr. Robert Trappl from the Austrian Research Institute for Artificial Intelligence. As a pioneer in his field, Trappl spoke on the topic "Man in the center of artificial intelligence: Where is our journey going?". According to Trappl, artificial intelligence will be a positive partner for humanity and society in the future.
  • Prof. Dr. Sarah Spiekermann-Hoff from the Vienna University of Economics and Business. Her concern is to understand people not as an irrational being, compared to a rational machine. That´s why she pleaded for a positive image of human beings and a clear hierarchy in which humans are superior to the machine.

Further details, photos, and an official video about the Austrian IT and Consultant Day 2017 can be found on the Consultant’s Day homepage, the UBIT Blog and the official Facebook page.  
Direct link to the Video on YouTube