The topic of artificial intelligence is booming. What are the reasons for this?

C. Horn: AI is the new electricity! Like electricity, it provides a basic function that we can use in myriad ways to improve processes and increase their speed and performance. Of course, everybody wants that! The only thing we need for this is data, and the amount of data companies have is increasing exponentially.

Can you briefly explain what AI is?

U. Michelucci: I like to explain AI with this simple analogy. AI tries to solve the problems that are very easy for humans but very hard for computers. For example, it is easy for humans to recognize a voice, a face, to read hand-written text and so on. On the other side, AI is not needed for problems that are very easy for computers but very hard for humans. Aggregating millions of numbers is a perfect example. Excel is enough, and surely is not AI. So any time you see a machine doing a task that would be easy for you, it is probably AI.

What are the advantages of managers having AI knowledge?

S. Bischoff: Consultants try to sell you AI as a solution of almost any problem. For a manager it is crucial to understand which kind of problems AI is able to solve and for which kind of problems you better look for different solutions. In this course we help you to demystify AI and gain understanding that is necessary to differentiate between useful application scenarios and consulting tricks. Additionally, having a little background knowledge comes quite handy when discussing with your AI specialists. When you are pitching your ideas to the management board, suitable arguments are useful to justify project funding, too.