On Thursday, the 25th of April ScaDS.AI welcomed 17 pupils between 11 and and 16 years old for the Girls’ Day 2024 and introduced them to the world of AI.

After a brief but warm welcome and an introduction to the center, the participants were given a small overview of the theoretical basics of artificial intelligence. What is AI and what is it not? How does machine learning work? Where is AI used and what data does it use from me? These and many other questions were answered for them and discussed with discussed.

During an introduction round, the participants had the opportunity to meet our researchers Anika Hannemann, Marlene Mertens, Dr. Josefine Umlauft and Marie Steinacker. They learned more about their research, their education, and their different journeys to ScaDS.AI. It quickly became clear that the path to becoming a data scientist was not always a straightforward one via a degree in computer science. It was rather via other fields that make use of corresponding methods. Of course, the participants also introduced themselves and let us know why they were interested in the topic. Most of them had decided to spend the day at ScaDS.AI to find out what AI is all about.

After all questions about research and working at a university were answered, Marie Eichholz, Anja Neumann and Johanna Zitt gave an introduction to programming with Python. This gave the participants a first insight into working with data. Following a short lunch break, everyone got back together in front of their laptops to continue working on their coding skills. The aim of the exercise was to be able to conduct their own data analysis afterwards in a short exercise on the topic of “Temperature Trends in Leipzig”.

In the second half of the day the participants were also free to explore our Living Lab. After a few introductory words by our colleagues Dr. Patrick Ebel and Johannes Häfner, they could test a driving simulator and dress up in the Magic Mirror. Tobias Jagla and David Schulte presented the Dezibot Arena and explained how the Dezibots work. In addition they were also able to compete against an AI in the classic game Snake, which was programmed by Anton Gasse. This gave them the opportunity to playfully experience how AI can be trained and used.

All in all, it was a very enjoyable day on which we not only met interesting girls, but were also able to introduce them to our work and get them excited about our research. We would like to thank everyone for their great participation and look forward to the next Girls’ Day and the great young women it will bring with it.