Retreat on AI: From Chatbots to Image Generation

Do I need AI for my work? What possibilities do different AI chatbots offer, and how can I use them efficiently and purposefully? These were the key questions at this year’s retreat, attended by staff from institutes and facilities in Jülich, Düsseldorf, and Freiburg. “Connecting Minds – Create the Future with AI” was the official motto of the one-and-a-half-day event held at Kasteel de Berckt in Baarlo. The retreat was organized by Julia Kämpfer, Janine Hucko, Steffi Mattig, and Anna Stössel, and led by Prof. Katrin Amunts. Expertise in AI was provided by the Big Data Analytics group, led by Christian Schiffer and his team.

Following an introduction to the topic by Susanne Wenzel, participants were invited to get creative: during the hackathon, a range of applications could be explored—from personalized chatbots to image generation and editing, programming, and text design. Impressive results were presented on the second day, including a prototype for a browser plugin to support productive work, carefully developed by MATSE trainees.

No retreat would be complete without a team-building activity: this time, six groups competed in “challenging” disciplines such as charades and photo puzzles. For some, building a spaghetti tower topped with a marshmallow proved to be an insurmountable obstacle on the path to the winner’s podium. As laptops and mobile phones were not allowed, consulting AI was not an option here.