As June is approaching, Vienna is already preparing to bring over 10,000 founders, investors and tech enthusiasts from all over the world for one of the largest startup festivals in Europe – ViennaUP 2024. More than 35 partner organisations from the local and international startup community are working actively today to deliver over 50 events spread across the city.

This year the programme features a number of AI-focused events, although the organizers look to go beyond the hype and explore the real impact of artificial intelligence on society, businesses, healthcare, media, and other industries. 

AI is nothing new for the Viennese economy, according to the Vienna Business Agency. Such systems have been used in many sectors for decades, with use cases varying from illness diagnostics through facility production optimization to traffic flow improvement. Until recently, however, it was primarily specialists who worked with AI systems, often in the field of machine learning.

“Generative AI is a groundbreaking new development that gives us all very low-threshold access to AI. These new developments make completely new use cases possible that will change our daily work. Employees can hire their own digital assistants. Companies are called upon to support their teams in the competent use of AI and to realise innovation potential,” shares Eva Czernohorszky, Head of Department Technology Services at Vienna Business Agency.

Building Upon The Vienna Manifesto on Digital Humanism

With the rapid advances in generative AI, ethical questions are taking centre stage. Are AI systems hallucinating? Do they reproduce prejudices and lead to discrimination against disadvantaged groups? Are AI systems being used to produce fake news and undermine democracy? Many researchers and entrepreneurs in Vienna are working on these questions. The Vienna Manifesto on Digital Humanism has attracted international attention, because it promotes centering human needs within technological progress. 

“Many experts from abroad ask us how we in Vienna support companies in anchoring digital humanism in business practice and in products made in Vienna. We are proud that the Viennese business information scientist Sarah Spiekermann played a leading role in the development of the first global standard for value-based engineering. The fact that Vienna plays an international pioneering role in the development of human-centred AI solutions is also confirmed by the high number of projects and startups in the healthcare sector and in the field of sustainable development towards climate neutrality,” Czernohorszky asserts.

Sources: TheRecursive