What happens when Professor Erik Proper of the Technical University of Vienna teams up with the ever-inquisitive ‘Dr. Bob’ Robert Engels – modestly supported by co-hosts Weiwei Feng and Ron Tolido - to discuss AI, models, semantics, ontologies, and context? A true PhD Fest? Or a practical exploration of the synergies between the academic and business words? Well, how about a bit of both.

Our latest episode ‘Models on the Dancefloor’ dives deep into core topics around models and their renewed urgency and importance in a world that rapidly seems to hand over control to breakthrough, yet often poorly understood AI technologies. Models provide context and a common language between AI and humans, maybe not in a perfect or unambiguous way, but certainly paving the way for more reliable and trustworthy outcomes. It’s about collaborating engineering, enabled by a variety of ‘thinklets’ that urge to think about what type of intelligence is need at what step of decision-making. 

Other key issues are addressed as well, as you would expect from this podcast, such as could ChatGPT have come up with Einstein’s relativity theory, will LLMs invent time travel and how did Robert make money while pogoing on punk rock, back in the days? Talking about a dancefloor filler: you don’t want to miss this one.

Hit play. You’ll never look at AI models – or dancefloors – the same way again.

Timestamps:

06:29 – Erik delves into the major conversations shaping academia today

11:05 – How AI is transforming the craft of architecture, modeling—and nearly everything else

15:25 – Why semantics matter: modeling, meaning, and the roots of bias

21:07 – Unpacking the dynamic between academia and industry

28:25 – The crucial role of high-complexity work in an AI-driven landscape

34:57 – Myth busted! Weiwei challenges a widely held belief in the data world

Connect with our guest Henderik Proper and our hosts Ron Tolido, Robert Engels, and Weiwei Feng on LinkedIn.