Deutsche Telekom Female Excellence Award 2023

Ethics of Digitization
On July 18, 2023, the Deutsche Telekom Female Excellence Award, endowed with a total of €7,500, was presented for the first time at the ARRTI Academy Evening in the Triangle Building. Patron of the event is Telekom board member and Heinrich Hertz guest professor Claudia Nemat.
 
The theme of the international call for entries was "Ethics of digitization" picking up on the current trend toward critical discussion of topics related to research on AI and AI-supported systems. The focus was on the positive aspects of AI and, in particular, how AI can help us navigate more responsibly in an increasingly complex world. Out of the many excellent submissions, two stood out in particular, so the jury decided to award one prize in the area of STEM subjects and another in the area of humanities and social sciences.

 

Telekom Award Ethik der Digitalisierung
The prize in the humanities and social sciences went to Dr. Laura Crompton of the Bavarian Agency for Digital

Her dissertation, submitted and defended at the University of Vienna in 2022, entitled "Who (...or what) is to decide? What AI influence means for human decisions" addresses in an original way how we should attribute responsibility in the case of autonomous systems. The thesis argues that the influence that AI-enabled systems have on human actions should be understood as extended agency, which has the not uncontroversial but interesting implication that humans are often no longer solely responsible for the actions of AI-enabled systems.

Dr. Laura Crompton presenting her work

Presentation of the certificate with ARRTI Director Prof. Dr. Dr. Rafaela Hillerbrand and ARRTI Director of Research Prof. Dr. Barbara Deml

Prof. Dr. Babara Deml reads the laudation of both winners in place of Claudia Nemat

In the field of natural sciences and engineering, the prize went to Eva Achterhold

The master's thesis submitted to LMU in 2022 under the title "Towards Fairness in Algorithmic Profiling: Applying Bias Mitigation Algorithms" convinced the jury across the board, as Eva Achterhold was able to show in her work how various biases in the application of algorithms in job placement lead to unequal treatment.

Eva Achterhold presenting her work

Presentation of the certificate with ARRTI Director Prof. Dr. Dr. Rafaela Hillerbrand and ARRTI Director of Research Prof. Dr. Barbara Deml

The two winners at the announcement of the laudation

The award will be announced once a year from now on. The next call for entries is planned for spring/summer 2024. You can find the old call for entries here.