It’s AI in a Box!

The heart of the learning lab is comprised of 25 learning arrangements in the form of themed boxes. With each box students face a different facet of Artificial Intelligence.

Box 01 – Wanted: AI
Can you identify the AI applications? Working on this box, students explore where they already encounter AI systems in their everyday lives. For given picture cards with different objects and applications, students are asked to decide whether or not AI systems are used. The correctness of the assignments can be checked with a UV lamp. […]
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Box 02 – Good Monkey, Bad Monkey!
Which monkey bites, and which doesn’t? Decision trees are easy-to-understand machine learning algorithms that can be used to illustrate supervised learning. Based on training data, the students create a decision tree to differentiate between biting and non-biting monkeys and then evaluate the quality of their model. The accompanying material explains how supervised learning works and […]
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Box 03 – Safari
Which animal am I? Using animal figures, the students manually configure a neural network so that it can recognize and distinguish different animals. The network uses LED stripes to illustrate the information flow, and the nodes of the network can be configured with controllers and switches so that different animals can be recognized. Unplugged materials […]
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Box 04 – (Un)Fair AI?!
Are AI systems objective? Working with this box, students can use different data sets to observe the effects of bias, i.e. distortions and prejudices, on decisions. They are encouraged to critically reflect on how fair decisions are made and whether the use of AI systems in various areas can lead to decisions that are neutral or fairer than human […]
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Box 05 – Painting Class
Dot, dot, comma, dash … With the help of reinforcement learning, algorithms can learn a certain behaviour through feedback. The actions of a software agent or a robot are assessed based on their usefulness in achieving a specific behavioural goal and the system receives rewarding or punishing feedback. Based on this, the system optimises its […]
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Box 06 – Festival Hide’n’Seek
Can you keep track of the festival chaos? Big data and AI systems are closely related. On the one hand, large volumes of data are required to train AI algorithms, while on the other hand, the volumes of data described by the term big data can no longer be processed using conventional data processing methods. […]
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Box 07 – Crypto Battle
Who decodes faster? AI systems or conventional algorithms? Data-based AI systems work differently from ” classic” algorithms: Instead of all elements of behavior being fixed by a programmer, the algorithm of a data-based AI system is trained using large amounts of data. This means that the algorithm analyzes and extracts patterns and correlations in the […]
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Box 08 – Once upon a Time …
The development of AI systems This box addresses important milestones in the development of artificial intelligence and the technical developments required for this. When solving bandolinos, the students deal with the facts and realize that the origins of AI date back several decades. The accompanying material provides more in-depth information on the development of artificial […]
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Box 09 – Reality Taboo
How an AI system sees the world The world that surrounds us is incredibly complex. The human brain takes in hundreds of thousands of impressions every second, yet we can always fully perceive and analyze our surroundings. For AI systems, however, this complexity of reality poses a major challenge. The perception of these systems via […]
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Box 10 – Artist Unknown
Who is the artist? Generative AI systems are not only able to create texts but also many different kinds of media and creative artefacts. The systems compose pieces of music and create videos and images which are often difficult to distinguish from “real”, man-made artefacts. Students can take a quiz working on this electronic box […]
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Box 11 – Everything Is Fake!
How AI systems can manipulate Fake videos in which words they never said are put into the mouths of celebrities or politicians, or images in which new facial features have been added: So-called “deepfakes” created with AI algorithms make it necessary to check digital artefacts very carefully to ensure their authenticity. Students can create deepfakes […]
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Box 12 – Pandemic
How do you prevent the outbreak of pandemics? This box presents an application area of AI systems. Research and science are working on using AI systems for the targeted prediction of pandemics. Students can try out for themselves which factors can be included and how they can be evaluated and thus take on the role […]
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Box 13 – Treasure Hunt
Stick to the rules, AI! In addition to machine learning, the paradigm of knowledge-based AI plays an important role in artificial intelligence. In this approach, models are not trained using large data sets, but rather fixed knowledge bases are programmed from which special algorithms can draw logical conclusions. In this box, the students go on […]
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Box 14 – Music Box
AI systems know (almost) everything about you Drawing on the example of music streaming, this box shows how personal data is used by streaming providers and other companies to customize the user experience with AI systems.Students take on the role of the algorithm and create music recommendations by evaluating personality profiles. The materials explain how […]
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Box 15 – Speed Doc
1000 diagnoses per second: faster than any doctor! This box focuses on the application of AI systems in medicine. By analyzing medical data at incredible speed, AI systems can help doctors diagnose and treat patients. Students take on the role of an AI system and use MRI images to determine what disease Sid the sloth […]
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Box 16 – No Chance
AI reviews your application! This box deals with the use of AI systems to analyze and pre-select applicants for jobs and the problems that can arise in this context. Students identify their own prejudices and see the limits of AI systems. Furthermore, the concept of social scoring is presented and problematized. Unplugged materials or an […]
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Box 17 – Ocean Waste
AI weeds out Water pollution from waste and plastic is one of the biggest problems the modern world is facing. This box shows how AI systems can be used to filter waste from oceans and rivers. Students take on the role of an AI system and try to identify and sort waste based on its […]
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Box 18 – No Escape
Fast, accurate, without emotions?! In addition to a wide range of applications in various civilian areas, AI algorithms and techniques such as image recognition can also be used for military purposes. AI systems can be used in surveillance missions but also weapons systems. But what dangers arise if the technology is misused? Should AI technology […]
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Box 19 – Explainable AI
Trust, but verify! The functioning of AI systems trained on large amounts of data using machine learning algorithms is often difficult to explain. Accordingly, it is difficult to determine how such an AI system comes to a result and how to assess it. AI systems that apply methods of explainable artificial intelligence (eXplainable AI) can […]
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Box 20 – Fairy Tales
Fabulous texts made by machines In this box, students explore how creating texts with generative AI systems works. Using the example of Markov chains, word networks are created from training texts and the students generate their own fairy tales. The information text explains how Markov chains work in more detail.
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Box 21 – PolarbA(I)r
Do all polar bears look the same? Absolutely not! This box sheds light on the VERA research project, which uses machine learning algorithms to recognise polar bears and other wild animals. As part of this box, students learn how video footage has to be processed and analysed to recognise polar bears and identify individuals. Behavioural […]
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Box 22 – (Dis)Like
What will your future life be like with AI systems? AI systems will influence our lives in many different ways in the future. However, it is difficult to predict exactly which changes will occur in which areas. But where does it make sense to allow AI systems to gain influence? Using scenarios from the areas […]
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Box 23 – Oracle Cops
AI systems hunt down criminals AI systems designed to assist in the fight against crime have been in use in many German cities for several years. The systems evaluate various demographic factors and police data. They make recommendations on where it makes sense to increase police presence to prevent crime. Students can try out predictive […]
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Box 24 – From the Ashes
Completely burnt – and yet readable! This box shows how versatile the use of AI systems is, based on an archaeological research project. In this project, machine learning algorithms are used to decipher carbonised ancient manuscripts from Herculaneum, which was destroyed by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD. X-ray scans of the manuscript […]
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Box 25 – Photo Box
Can you beat facial recognition? In this box, students will be able to try out a facial recognition algorithm and experiment with the accuracy of the recognition. It also shows that AI systems do not require large hardware, but can be implemented with a USB stick and a minicomputer. The information material explains how facial […]
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