Artificial intelligence in focus - AI Week at BurdaForward

For five days, everything revolved around the topic of artificial intelligence at the "AI Week" at the BurdaForward Campus in Munich. Around 500 colleagues travelled from all over Germany and Bari in Italy to attend as many of the more than 60 workshops and lectures as possible.

In our work with artificial intelligence, we always want to put people at the centre. The fact that we dedicate ourselves to the new interaction possibilities between humans and machines with so much curiosity, creativity and a sense of responsibility, and that we also have fun in the process, excites me.“

The idea for the training week came about three months ago. A team from various departments then quickly put together a programme with more than 60 top-class internal and external lecturers who shared their knowledge.

Cross-industry expertise

Not only AI professionals but also beginners found what they were looking for in the extensive AI Week programme. For example, they learned how to use prompts as efficiently as possible or how to create media content with the help of artificial intelligence. But also legal basics, tips on identifying fake news or ways to simplify processes and manage projects were taught. The programme was organised by experts from well-known companies such as Adobe, Palantir, Siemens Advanta, Bayerischer Rundfunk, KUKA, IBM, Amazon, Ringier and Microsoft. The lecturers presented use cases and in-house AI solutions, which they then discussed animatedly with their audience. The focus was always on the question of how artificial intelligence can improve, facilitate and positively influence journalistic work.

Artificial intelligence in the Burda cosmos

Colleagues from the Burda world showed the AI power that can be found in the Burda network: Jean-Paul Schmetz, Chief Scientist at Hubert Burda Media, explained how to approach AI projects correctly and what the right level of ambition is. Konark Modi, Vice President Technology at HolidayCheck, gave insights into the travel portal's AI-based rating assistant. Lea Wieditz and Sascha Schenke from the Tech Operations Team at BurdaForward gave concrete training on the use of various AI coding tools. Sandra Zendel and Mortimer Korsch from the Burda publishing house provided "learning-by-doing" training in the daily editorial routine. Yvonne Killeweit and Stefan Dold from Burda Digital Systems revealed how they use artificial intelligence to extract data from handwritten data or PDF documents. BurdaForward video expert Mark Luxenhofer presented "MagicAI", a tool for video production that he has developed himself with a small team in recent weeks and months. Christian Just from Valiton dispelled myths and speculations surrounding ChatGPT. And Robert Detering, Executive Principal User Relations at BurdaForward, presented testable hypotheses for product development with the help of the jobs-to-be-done framework and ChatGPT.

AI Hackathon

For around 80 AI enthusiasts, there was another highlight with the AI Hackathon on Thursday. In small teams, the participants hacked away at 13 different product and process ideas until their heads were spinning. In order to be able to obtain reach data quickly and easily in the future, a "data chatbot" was created that simply answers detailed questions about the traffic of the entire BurdaForward network. Concrete products include a news feed tailored to personal preferences and interests, and a share button for the entertaining sharing of news articles in the tone of a celebrity. One can be curious: Because soon some of the hacks will be experienced on BurdaForward brands like Focus online, Bunte.de or Chip.de.

After the intensive workshops, snacks and drinks, fresh cocktails and ice cream provided refreshment and refreshment in the afternoon. Until late at night, the colleagues enjoyed the summery atmosphere at the BurdaForward Campus in Munich and let these instructive, fun and exciting days come to an end, which will have an impact for a long time to come.

One thing is for sure: it will not be the last week of this kind at BurdaForward!