Katharina Fegebank, Senator for Science, Research and Equality, said: "Instagram, TikTok, Chat GPT or Google Translate – the HBI is dedicated to topics that we as politicians and as a society urgently need to understand better.” The decision followed a positive evaluation by the German Council of Science and Humanities (Wissenschaftsrat). HBI scored top marks in the scientific quality, supra-regional importance and structural relevance categories. Prof. Dr Wolfgang Schulz, Director of HBI, pointed out: "We also need to investigate the technical architectures of platforms and AI applications, including new formats for generating knowledge to understand the importance of communication for democracy, our knowledge base and social cohesion. We can and will do this now and make the knowledge gained available to society."
German and state governments funding research into social media and AI technology
The German and state governments have earmarked EUR 10.3 million for AI research in the Leibniz Institute for Media Research/Hans-Bredow Institut (HBI) at the University of Hamburg (HBI) from 2026 to 2029, following a decision Friday (November 22, 2024) by the Joint Science Conference (GWK) in Cologne. The funds will go towards research into social media and AI technology such as bots, search engines and automatic language processing.
Outstanding AI research
Hamburg now key media and innovation centre
The funding highlights Hamburg's role in media research. "The HBI makes a decisive contribution to Hamburg as a media location and to media research in Germany as a whole," Fegebank stressed. HBI's basic budget will be permanently increased by EUR 3.3 million from 2030, the institute added.
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