Competence Center for Generative AI

The Competence Center for Generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) explores the potential of algorithms (like ChatGPT or Stable Diffusion) that create new content. We research and provide information, support and consulting. Our goal is to bring a better understanding of the impact of these models on society.

Generative AI is a type of artificial intelligence that can create new data, some of which is difficult to distinguish from human content. The generated content includes for example text, sound and images. As a result, the technology has implications for many areas of society, including speech processing, music and medicine. As a contribution to a sustainable use and handling of generative AI in education, research and industry, the Competence Center brings together existing experiences, provides the framework for networking and facilitates new projects.

The ZHAW can draw on a longstanding expertise on generative AI. Since 2016, for example, the Center for Artificial Intelligence (CAI) has been working with generative models for language generation and the Institute of Translation and Interpreting (IUD) with machine translation tools. The Competence Center for Generative AI unites experts from many different disciplines that analyse and develop generative AI models and investigate their impact on society.

In addition to applied research, development and (further) education courses, our focus is also on services and events. Join us on this exciting journey of discovery and knowledge-sharing!

Focal Points and Topics

Scientifically sound experiments to assess the capabilities and limitations of ChatGPT and similar models.
Implementation of showcases how generative language models can be used in industry, education, and research.
Webinars, talks, and presentations to inform the research and industrial communities about the capabilities, limitations, and best practices for using generative language models.
Meetups and expert meetings with the goal of knowledge exchange and cooperation encouragement among all interested parties in the field of generative language models.
A point of contact for the public where our experts will answer questions about ChatGPT and similar models via phone or video call (details coming soon).
A series of blog articles highlighting the latest scientific findings, industrial use cases, and guidelines for using generative language models in academia.
Guidelines for teachers and lecturers at schools and universities on how to deal with generative language models in exercises and exams and how to benefit from them in teaching.

WBK Generative KI in Lehre und Weiterbildung (in german)

Blog Artificial Intelligence – Research and Applications

Events and courses

WBK Generative AI in Teaching and Continuing Education (2 ECTS, in German): The continuing education course provides a deep understanding of generative AI models through practical examples and hands-on exercises. The focus is on the impact of generative AI in teaching and continuing education, useful applications for teachers and instructors, learning objectives and assessments, as well as legal aspects and future developments. Registration

Upcoming Activities:

ETH AI Center "AI + Environment EcoHackathon 2024": 17.05.-31.05.2024, Zurich: Registration
Data Innovation Alliance, 28.05.2024, Online: Registration
ZHAW: "Fünf Jahre Zukunft mit ZHAW digital": 29.05.2024, Winterthur, mit zahlreichen ZHAW Expert:innen, u.a. Pascal Sager, Cerstin Mahlow, Thomas Korner: Informationen und Anmeldung
doi: "Swiss Conference on Data Science 2024": 30.05-31.05.2024, Zurich, with several ZHAW experts, e.g. Mark Cieliebak, Lukas Tuggener: Information and Registration.
ZHAW, D-One "IEEE Swiss Conference on Data Science 2024": 30.05-31.05.2024, Zurich Airport with several ZHAW experts: Registration
Digital Winterthur: "Digital Night 2024: Schweizer KI-Lösungen im Fokus": 05.06.2024, Aula ZHAW. Informationen und Anmeldung.
UZH "Science Communication in the age of artificial intelligence": 06.06.-07.06.2024, Rämistrasse 71, Zürich: Information
ZHAW "Swiss Text Analytics Conference - SwissText 2024": 10.06-11.06.2024, Winterthur, with ZHAW experts Mark Cieliebak, Manuela Hürlimann: Registration
Data & AI und Cloud Leadership Day: 19.06.24, Zurich: Information.

We are looking forward to lots of participaton.

Past Events:

DIZH, UZH "AI for Education Hackathon 2024": 17.04.2024, Rämistrasse 69, Zürich: Information
ETH AI Center "Common Ethical Basis of Collaborative AI": 26.04.2024, Oerlikon. Registration
ZHAW "AI - Architectural Intelligence": 03.05.2024, Winterthur: Program
UZH DSI, "Apéro Digital". 22.05.2024, Zürich: Registration
ZHAW + ETH "Launch & AI+X Summit": 13.10.2023, Zürich Oerlikon. Mit zahlreichen ZHAW Expert:innen, e.g. Mark Cieliebak: Programm und Tickets
"Journalismus Jetzt": 06.10.2023, Photobastei Zürich. Podiumsdiskussion "Autor: KI. Ist der Journalismus bereit für Chatbots und Co.?" mit Expertin Cerstin Mahlow: Programm
BMFH Konferenz: 04.10.2023, Toni-Areal Zürich. "Deutsch: Schreiben mit generativer KI in Lehre und Unterricht" mit Expertin Cerstin Mahlow: Programm
FARI Conference: Local & Sustainable AI, Data, and Robotics: 11.09- 12.09.2023, Brussels, Belgium, mit Expertin Cerstin Mahlow: Registration
Scientifica 2023 "Was Welten in Zukunft zusammen hält": 02.09.2023 11:00-17:00, 03.09.2023 11:00-18:00, Rämistrasse 69, Gebäude SOC mit Expert:innen Katya Mlynchyk, Pascal Sager: Programm, Rückblick
Internationale Delegiertenkonferenz IDK: 14.08.2023, Winterthur. "Wenn die Künstliche Intelligenz die Schulbank drückt: Einblicke in die Funktionsweise, Potenziale und Gefahren von KI im Fremdsprachenunterricht" mit Expertin Alice Delorme Benites: Programm
Swiss Conference on Data Science (SDS2023): 22.06.-23.06.2023, Zürich. Verschiedene Talks, e.g. “Quantum Machine Learning – The Next Big AI Wave in the Age of Energy Transition?” mit Experten Kurt Stockinger: Program
SwissText Analytics Conference – Swiss Text 2023: 12.06-14.06.2023, Neuchâtel, mit Expert:innen Alexandre de Spindler, Katsiaryna Mlynchyk, Manuela Hürlimann und Mark Cieliebak: Programme
EATAW Conference 2023: 05.06.-07.06.2023, Winterthur, “Writing technology, thinking, and learning”, mit Experten Mark Cieliebak: Schedule
Lernlabor Hochschuldidaktik für Digitale Skills (LeLa): 06.06.2023, 12:15-13:00, «Wie integrieren wir KI in die berufliche und akademische Schreibpraxis?» mit Dr. Kurt Pernstich und Lisa Messenzehl: Aufzeichnung
ZHAW IAM Live: 31.05.2023, 18:30-19:45, «Macht ChatGPT Journalist:innen und Kommunikationsprofis schneller, einfältiger – oder gar überflüssig?», mit Expertin Cerstin Mahlow: Anmeldung
PHZH and SGAB: 23.05.2023, 13:30-17:00 Uhr, Tagung «Automatisierung, KI und Learning Analytics in der Berufsbildung – Chancen und Risiken», mit Expertin Manuela Hürlimann: Anmeldung
Ortsmuseum Meilen & Mindfire: 04.04.2023-23.04.2023., AI Symposium in Meilen, Ortsmuseum Meilen, Kirchgasse 14, 8706 Meilen:
- 04.04.2023, 14:30 Uhr: Die Zukunft der KI, mit Experten Thilo Stadelmann
- 15.04.2023, 10:30 Uhr: KI & Ethik
- 23.04.2023, 14:30 Uhr: KI, Politik & Gesellschaft
ZHAW (intern): 02.03.-04.04.: Impuls Reihe: KI in der Lehre (zhaw.ch)
- 02.03.2023: Einführung in die Thematik und Technik, mit Experten Mark Cieliebak
- 09.03.2023: Überblick und Demo KI-Tools, mit Experten Patrick Feisthammel und Pascal Sager
- 14.03.2023: Leistungsnachweise und Prüfungen, mit Experten Mark Cieliebak
- 23.03.2023: Schriftliche Arbeiten, mit Expertin Cerstin Mahlow
- 04.04.2023: Hype oder Revolution: Die Zukunft der generativen KI, mit Experten Mark Cieliebak
PHZH, ZHAW, UZH: 03.04.2023, 16:30-18:00, "Chancen und Risiken von KI/ChatGPT für die Bildung?", online Podiumsdiskussion, mit Expertin Alice Delorme Benites: ChatGPT in der Zürcher Bildung Podiumsdiskussion Online 3. April 2023 - YouTube

Research Projects and Publications

Projects

Towards a Voice-Based Chatbot for Language Learners (ChaLL) (Innosuisse Projekt, ongoing)
AI4REALNET: AI for REAL-world NETwork operation (Internationales Projekt, ongoing)
Digital Literacy in the university context (DigLit) (P-8 Projekt von Bund gefördert, ongoing)
ML-BCA: Machine Learning for Body Composition Analysis (Projekt mit Kantonsspital Aarau, ongoing)
certAInty – A Certification Scheme for AI systems (Innosuisse Projekt, ongoing)
Machine translation for crisis communication (completed)
Chat website for people seeking protection with information and reporting function (DIZH-Projekt, compeleted)
Employing Natural Language Processing to identify inconsistencies in companies’ non-financial communication (Innosuisse Projekt, completed)
Live demonstration of Swiss German speech input to stable-diffusion-based image synthesis (internal showcase, 2022)
Automatic Generation of Meeting Summaries (Innosuisse Project, completed 2022)
LIHLITH - Learning to Interact with Humans by Lifelong Interaction with Humans (a fundamental European research project completed in 2020)
Fact-aware Abstractive Text Summarization using a Pointer-Generator Network ("German Text Summarization" Challenge at SwissText 2019)
Headline Generation for Newspaper Articles (a project with a media partner, completed in 2019)

Publications

Dialect transfer for Swiss German speech translation (Survey, 2023)
Towards a taxonomy of large language model based business model transformations (Survey, 2023)
Automated text generation and summarization for academic writing (Book contribution, 2023)
Real world music object recognition (Article in scientific journal, 2023)
Digital writing technologies in higher education : theory, research, and practice (Book, 2023)
Video object detection for privacy-preserving patient monitoring in intensive care (peer-reviewed Paper, 2023)
Large language models and artificial intelligence as tools for teaching and learning writing (Article in scientific journal, 2023)
From concept to implementation : the data-centric development process for AI in industry (peer-reviewed Paper, 2023)
Correction of errors in preference ratings from automated metrics for text generation (peer-reviewed Paper, 2023)
Large language models and artificial intelligence, the end of (language) learning as we know it—or not quite? (Survey, 2023)
Evaluating Pre-Trained Sentence-BERT with Class Embeddings in Active Learning for Multi-Label Text Classification (peer-reviewed Paper, 2022)
The challenges of algorithm-based HR decision-making for personal integrity (Book contribution, 2022)
In-Depth Analysis of Automated Metrics for Text Generation Systems (peer-reviewed paper, 2022)
Solution for Improving Back-Translation of Database Queries into Natural Language (peer-reviewed paper, 2022; technology integrated into the NL2DB demo)
Computer vision system using medical image synthesis for data homogenization (peer-reviewed paper, 2021)
Survey Paper on Evaluation of Dialogue Systems (survey paper, 2021)
Generating Restaurant Reviews from Structured Data (peer-reviewed paper, 2018)
End-to-end Trainable System for Enhancing Diversity in Natural Language Generation (system description, 2017)

Podcasts, Videos and more:

/ Jasmina Bogojeska : AI and big data: can algorithms revolutionize healthcare? (Podcast Marktplatz Gesundheitswesen 74, 2023)

Experts and Organisation

Experts

For ZHAW Employees

As a ZHAW employee, you can participate actively or passively in the Competence Center: as an «expert» you have expertise on the topic of generative AI; or as a «follower» in our MS Teams channel, if you are simply interested in the topic or have questions about it. Feel free to contact us by sending as an e-mail: generativeAI@zhaw.ch.