START Summit: The Future of Artificial Intelligence

The START Summit was organised in lengthy preparation by a team of more than 80 members of the student association START Global. Dozens of workshops, panel discussions and lectures took place over these two days. This year's participants included students from other universities as well as successful entrepreneurs and personalities from the entrepreneurial sector.

Jonas Andrulis: Artificial Intelligence as the Last Human Revolution

Among the diverse range of panel discussions on artificial intelligence was one entitled "Generative AI: A Game-Changer or a Passing Trend". Among the participants were Eva-Valérie Gfrerer from "Morphais VC", Jonas Andrulis from "Aleph Alpha" and Jonas Diezun from "Razor Group & Beam". They addressed the question of whether the topic of "artificial intelligence" is a promising one for the future and what this might be due to. It became clear that the fields of application for artificial intelligence are versatile and that it can have a positive impact on our lives. Eva-Valérie Gfrerer, for example, made it clear that artificial intelligence can help us to effectively address issues such as poverty and inequality - which are prevalent in the world. Not only can AI help us better address global issues such as poverty and inequality, but according to Gfrerer, AI can also help us create a better work-life balance by letting AI take care of tedious tasks, such as researching certain topics, so that we can focus entirely on the tasks that really suit us, challenge us intellectually and help us grow personally. 

Limits and trends of AI

Jonas Diezun, who also participated in the panel discussion "Generative AI: A Game-Changer or a Passing Trend" alongside Eva-Balérie Grferer and Jonas Andrulis, found clear words in response to this question. According to him, applications related to artificial intelligence will become more and more present in the future. This is mainly due to the fact that these applications will continue to improve greatly in the coming months and years. Jonas Diezun expects that in the next few months the current applications will already be many times better developed than they are now. But he also emphasised that these developments come with certain limitations. For example, he is sure that certain jobs, such as the job of a nurse, cannot be replaced by artificial intelligence in the near future. However, for these developments to take place and for the topic of artificial intelligence to continue to flourish, it is of particular importance to the participants of the panel "AI Giants of 2050" Alex Ilic, Janette Wiget, Dalith Steiger and Andreas Goeldi that we create an environment in which we are open to innovations and engage with them. 

This year's START Summit was a complete success. The varied programme of stimulating discussions on interesting and seminal topics, but also various stands of innovative companies from all over the world, created a unique atmosphere that provided a glimpse into the future. 

Jacob Coburger is studying business administration in his 4th bachelor's semester at the University of St.Gallen.