On 31 January 2025, the members of the KPA IMfESS met for the 3rd annual meeting in the lecture theatre in Pohligstr.3. After an overview of the KPA itself and its activities, some completed, ongoing and new projects (see also project website) were presented. This was followed by a panel discussion on ‘AI in geosciences.’ The participants, Christina Bogner, Marijn van der Meij, Aleksandar Bojchevski, and Martin Schultz, gave exciting keynote speeches about their work with AI. The individual topics are wide-ranging, evident in the subsequent discussion with many questions. The aim was to familiarise students with AI because it is impossible to imagine academic work without AI as a helpful tool, not only as a helper in learning and creating texts in general but also in academic work. The 5th panelist and doctoral student, Nils Risse, also confirmed this. It was reported that the use of suitable AI models helps in the creation of geomorphological maps (geomorphology is a subfield of geography) and can even replace classic models in weather forecasting. The important topic of the robustness of AI models made it clear that interdisciplinary cooperation between geoscientists and computer scientists is needed to use AI in a meaningful and credible way.

During this meeting, we had plenty of time to get to know each other and exchange ideas over coffee and lunch. Further meetings are sure to follow.