Exploring AI Frontiers at HAICON 2025: A Glimpse into the Helmholtz AI Community

From June 2 to 5, members of the Earth System Data Exploration (ESDE) group - Michael Langguth, Savvas Melidonis, Erik Pavel, and Till Hauer - took part in the Helmholtz AI Conference (HAICON) 2025 in Karlsruhe. The conference, including the preceding Prologue Day at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), brought together researchers, consultants, and industry representatives to explore how applied AI continues to reshape scientific discovery across disciplines. It proved to be a valuable opportunity for knowledge exchange and for strengthening links within the Helmholtz community.

Two sessions dedicated to foundation models stood out, underlining the growing importance of large-scale, multimodal AI systems. Talks such as “TerraMind: Large-Scale Generative Multimodality for Earth Observation” (Jakubik et al., 2025) and “Multimodal Whole Slide Foundation Model for Pathology” (Ding et al., 2024) demonstrated both the diversity and sophistication of ongoing research.

While the biomedical field was strongly represented, contributions from the Earth science domain remained limited - a gap that also highlights potential for future expansion. The conference also allowed for deepened connections with other Helmholtz centres, particularly with colleagues from TU Dresden, with whom a joint publication on foundation models is being planned.

The Prologue Day on June 2 added a hands-on dimension to the experience. Hosted at KIT, it featured workshops, tutorials, and guided tours, including an in-depth visit to KIT’s high-performance computing facilities and an impressive look behind the scenes of AI infrastructure. Sessions on model adaptation strategies and Gaussian processes offered technical depth and fresh inspiration, particularly for Till Hauer, who found the exchange especially enriching.

HAICON 2025 struck an excellent balance of technical discussion, interdisciplinary insight, and community-building. Stimulating poster sessions, lively hallway conversations, and a memorable conference dinner at the Karlsruher SC’s Waldstadion - a fitting blend of science and sport - rounded off the event. The week highlighted both the momentum behind AI research and the many possibilities still to be explored – particularly for Earth system science.