18.11.2024 AI Final of the national AI competition

Sebastian Steppuhn, a seventeen-year-old student from Pforzheim, won the national artificial intelligence competition in Tübingen on Friday. He developed an AI that recognizes harmful varroa mites on bees. An apparatus then automatically sorts out infested bees for targeted treatment. The AI application could thus make a contribution to combating bee mortality.

Leonie Weiss from Regensburg was awarded the prize in the special category "AI for Good" for her AI project "TrafficAid". The 18-year-old student developed an intelligent traffic light control system for roadworks that recognizes vehicles and only switches to red when necessary.

The prize for the special category "No risk, no fun!" went to Anna Perkovic and Nicholas Dahlke from Lörrach, Baden-Württemberg. The two seventeen-year-olds used AI to solve an unsolved chemical mystery: why does hot water freeze faster than cold water? The special "AI Research" prize went to Lorenz Rutkevich from Leer in Lower Saxony with his "SeesDisease" project, which uses AI-supported medical microscopy to produce razor-sharp images of cells even with simple microscopes. Peter Fuchs from Hanover emerged as the audience favorite with his "FolderCopter" project, which aims to make it easier to search for data on the computer.

A total of ten student teams qualified for the BWKI final with their project ideas and were assessed by the jury.

Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier met the young AI talents on the morning of the final. "(...) especially with regard to these young people, I would say that we need not fear for this new generation," was his summary.

The motto of the competition, "What freedom does AI give you?", was based on the Federal Ministry of Education and Research's Science Year 2024. The main sponsor of the BWKI is the Carl Zeiss Foundation.