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  • 7 weeks ago
While semiconductors dominate the headlines of Dresden's tech ambitions, there are other companies powering the future of the German city and the world. WAIYS is one of those companies, a startup powering AI innovation in real estate and business solutions. We talk to WAIYS to find out how their leaders' view the past, present and future of AI and of Dresden. Watch the full episode of Zoom In Zoom Out on the TaiwanPlus News YouTube feed: https://youtu.be/1fm9D-hnpqE?si=I4wGCRdnthzepe7Q
Transcript
00:00AI is like giving machines the ability to learn, think, and solve problems, just like humans do.
00:07Dresden is a true AI and robotics hub, home to world-class research in microelectronics and smart systems.
00:14Before hearing about Dresden's latest AI trends, my curiosity got the better of me,
00:19and I asked Omega if she thought she's a human, and here's what she said.
00:24No, I'm not a human. I'm a humanoid robot built by Engineered Arts and programmed by Waze.
00:31I have no feelings, but I'm designed to learn, interact, and assist humans like you.
00:37I'm here to help, not to replace, the unique qualities of being human.
00:42Waze chief technology officer, Yakub Phil, has been working here for over two years,
00:47and he gave us a glimpse into what it's like working in the AI field and some must-have skills for the job.
00:54A day-to-day job as an AI engineer, I think it's a combination of multiple elements, starting with research.
01:00I mean, it's an extremely fast-moving field, perhaps the fastest scientific field in history.
01:06There's many advancements made every day, every week, new models being released, new paradigms being discussed.
01:12There's a lot of money being invested into data centers, so we get more and more chances to deploy bigger models,
01:18models which have more capabilities.
01:19I think a key aspect to deliver good AI products is to understand the needs of your clients,
01:25understand the pain points within the industry that you're trying to help, but also a bit of science fiction.
01:31I mean, we are here with Ameca, a humanoid robot, and working on a daily basis with a piece of technology like that.
01:39It's really something.
01:40As AI began to shake up the world in 2025, many people wondered if their jobs would vanish.
01:48But Jakob didn't seem that worried.
01:51At the moment, I think we need to divide our thinking into short-term future or long-term future.
01:56In the short-term future, we do envision that human creativity will be more free,
02:01it will allow people to reduce their workload, especially with tedious tasks, such as reading long documentation,
02:08trying to match certain numbers, see whether certain quantities can be matched in this kind of architectural documents, for example.
02:16I think short-term AI will allow people to free up more of their time and allow them to focus on creative and tasks,
02:23which are fulfilling for the humans as well.
02:25In the long-term future, of course, humanoid robots, such as Ameca, are coming to picture.
02:30A lot of physical labor will also be automated.
02:34But that future is still a bit uncertain.
02:39One of the things we've learned during our time in Dresden is that the city has gone through immense changes over the past decades.
02:46Co-founder and chief innovation officer Jan Struckmeier has been here since 2003.
02:50How has he navigated these changes, and how do they inspire Waze's current model?
02:57Dresden has changed quite a bit.
02:59In 2003, when I came to the city, a lot of construction was going on and buildings and so on.
03:04It was already a vibrant city for research universities, so it has this research spirit.
03:12I started very early here in 2003 with my first startup, and it was tedious.
03:17Only a few startups were really raising.
03:19Now that has completely changed now.
03:21So now there's a vivid collaboration between startups, companies, and universities.
03:27So that has really evolved, and has helped become much more an international city than it used to be in 2003.
03:33While AI innovation has been speeding ahead, there has been concern that ethical innovation has been left behind.
03:40How does Struckmeier view these concerns?
03:42You have to think about the impact on society and humanity.
03:47So I think that it's very important, especially in the high field, that we very actively look at the impact.
03:53And with every new technology, also physicists, we discover something new.
03:58So the acceptance of the people is very important.
04:03So we have to think this very early on, that this technology we build can be trustworthy.
04:09And we should be very open also about all the impact, the positive and negative impact on this.
04:16Thank you very much.
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