109 #swissaiweeks #siliconlovefield
As mentioned in my Apertus post, I am helping to produce the Swiss {ai} Weeks – a first edition of a new national platform, as hackathon organizer and regional coordinator for Bern. Here I would like to share some impressions of activities that I was able to join, from kicking off with the on {ai}r webinar, to the first trade F{ai}R in #siliconlovefield
Allow me to begin by extending my deep gratitude to all the event organizers, sponsors, friends and partners – in particular, to the Economic Development section of the Canton of Bern as the first of the key supporters - and the whole #SwissAIweeks community.
Swiss {ai} Weeks
With the theme is "AI Made in Switzerland – Shaped by You", this is a new national platform, that aims to bring more diverse voices to the table of critical debate and knowledge sharing on the opportunities and issues of Artificial Intelligence.
Join the movement! Swiss {ai} Weeks calls on researchers, developers, businesses, and citizens to come together and build the future of AI — hands-on, ethical, and open. This isn't just exploration, it's collaboration in action.
The initiators are the EPFL AI Center, ETH AI Center, Swisscom, Impact Hub Switzerland, Kickstart Innovation, Panter, Wildcard Media, a similar constellation to the VersusVirus events of 2020. I joined as Datalets to help get things running in Bern, while helping out in other locations around the country as well. At the end of spring, this was just an idea, we had no events and just tentative dates. At time of writing, 222 events in 27 cities, 19 events in Bern alone, have been organized. There are 8 hackathons in total joining the parade on swiss-ai-weeks.ch
To get the word out, I designed tri-lingual posters, brochures, pamphlets and stickers using Inkscape at Effinger (with thanks to the coworking community for early feedback). Hundreds of them were printed on recycled paper, hand-cut and distributed around Bern. They were dropped at existing tech/society hotspots: BATbern, Guild42 and DIN meetups, Impact Hub and BFH events, at the Polit-Forum and the Living Room. This complemented the massive digital promotion from Sabine Wildemann & team.
1.9. on {ai}r
How do large language models work and what role does digital sovereignty play? This was the kick-off presentation during the on {ai}r interview series that was run by WldCrd Media throughout September. Here we got a brief introduction to LLMs and saw some of the work being done by researchers in Bern, such as Niklaus et al 2023:
There was a sold-out meetup at Zühlke of the Machine Learning & Artificial Intelligence Bern group that evening, the slides from which can be found here:
mlbe
2.9. Impact Hub Bern
On the morning of September 2, the Swiss AI Initiative launched the Apertus model - at this point the Swiss {ai} Weeks were really on! You can read about this momentous occasion in my separate blog post. After a morning of downloading and tensor-loading, I supported a workshop on AI for Impact Entrepreneurs facilitated by Gregor Martius (Schubkraft).
The very mixed group of ~30 participants got a solid introduction to AI from a general perspective, and in a highly interactive session we all had a chance to vote our preferences, ask critical questions, and propose ways of impacting future development positively.
2.9. CH Open & BFH
In this evening event at the Bern University of Applied Sciences, we were shown by two expert engineers how to build a highly secure GenAI System based on popular Open Source tools. Projects like Ollama, Milvus, and Open WebUI were installed on premise in a live demo. For almost two hours we dived into details of software architecture, enterprise computing, certified supply chains, and Linux enhanced security features. I'm pretty sure most people were actually interested in the questions of data privacy and transparency.
Thanks Eric Lajoie and Holger Moenius for the interesting talk! Our video recording and the slide presentation is available.
3.9. Puzzle Breakfast
In this breakfast session, we packed into a coffee shop to hear of the latest developments in the AI world from Puzzle, a local IT company. There was an intro to Agentic AI, the open-source protocols MCP and A2A. Solid business cases and ideas on how humans and AI can collaborate, what new ideas and ways of working are emerging. The two inspiring short presentations by Pascal Geronimi and Matthias Andenmatten gave insights into the trends, introduced by CEO Mark Waber.
Pascal Geronimi, Puzzle ITC
Thanks very much for your support of the Swiss {ai} Weeks, Puzzle! See also:
Franziska Hashim
4.9. Polit-Forum Bern
As part of an inspiring and critical exhibition on "AI & Democracy", a Thursday night podium event dived into the topic of Fair and transparent AI – (how) does it work?
Artificial intelligence (AI) is increasingly being used to make processes and tasks faster and more efficient. However, this can jeopardize fundamental democratic rights. This is the case, for example, when AI participates in decisions regarding police work, social services, hiring procedures, or the granting of loans. Furthermore, the development and operation of AI models require enormous amounts of water and energy. Millions of workers are often trained under exploitative conditions. For years, AI ethicists have been demanding that fairness and transparency be guaranteed in the development and application of AI systems. But what does fair, transparent, and trustworthy AI look like in practice? ...
... What does (lack of) transparency mean for trust in AI? What are the risks if it's unclear how AI works? How and by whom should the production and use of AI systems be monitored and regulated? And what is needed to ensure that human rights, fairness, and sustainability are taken into account from the development to the application of AI technologies? (translated from German)
The panel discussion included:
- Rafael von Matt (moderator), Federal Palace Editor SRF
- Estelle Pannatier, Policy Manager at AlgorithmWatch CH
- Livia Walpen, Senior Policy Advisor, Federal Office of Communications
- Thilo Spinner, Research Engineer, IVIA Lab at ETH Zurich
I found the presentation and questions from the audience highly engaging, and am thankful to the Polit-Forum team for their extremely thorough and compelling take on the subject. During the apéro that followed the debate, I set up my laptop with PublicAI and several participants were able to chat or speak with Apertus. Here are the transcripts in German.
The current exhibition runs until mid-December.
5.9. BFH
AI for SMEs: What Can Small Businesses Really Do with Artificial Intelligence? was a program that we designed to completent the activities with a perspective on the intersection of business and science departments. The University hosted us for an afternoon dedicated to demystifying AI for small and medium enterprises, taking place as part of the Swiss {ai} Weeks.
This event cuts through the hype to show you what's possible with AI in your business today – without the complexity, massive budgets, or technical expertise typically associated with AI implementation. What to expect: The event will begin with a keynote address by Jérôme Berthier, the CEO and founder of the Swiss generative AI company DeepLink, followed by a presentation on the Swiss AI initiative by Aram Davtyan of the University of Bern. These will be followed by interactive workshops in which you will gain hands-on experience of generative AI, prompt engineering, local AI models and business model innovation. Each session is designed to provide you with practical knowledge that you can implement immediately.
Thank you to Sarah Dégallier Rochat and team for a fantastic event!
BFH Humane Digital Transformation
6.9. Night of Research
While not an official {ai} Weeks event, I'd like to highlight a couple of impression of this annual occasion, during which dozens of laboratories from the University of Bern open doors and put up rather unique shows and activities for the general public. It was not a night to be missed!
Visit the official websites for more pictures, videos, links:
10.9. Polit-Forum
As part of the same exhibition described above, we discussed "AI in games and pop culture – a reality check?" in the format of a Democracy Bar.
Technological progress and associated visions of the future have long been explored in science fiction literature, films, games, and radio plays. Sometimes these are dazzling futures and images full of hope; at other times, bleak scenarios predominate, portraying technology as the oppressor of humanity and nature. In these imagined worlds, human life is determined by artificial intelligence, cyborgs—i.e., artificially enhanced living beings—and a highly technological environment. With the rapid spread of new AI applications today, the question arises: How far are we (still) from these worlds? (Translated from German)
Arno Görgen (historian of ideas and culture at HKB) and Eugen Pfister (historian of ideas and politics at HKB) addressed these and other questions, while everyone crowded around the bar to ask questions and join the discussion. This event is a collaboration with the CH Ludens project and the Bern University of the Arts (HKB).
15.9 F{ai}R
Yesterday we organized a first trade fair dedicated to AI at WORKSPACE & MORE - the new coworking space and bustling tech area of Liebefeld - the area of Bern where we are hosting our hackathon later this week. This busy Monday included a full program of events and showcases to launch a #siliconlovefield hashtag: a transliteration into English of the geographic name of Liebefeld (1st edition T-shirts are in stock!) as a local community initiative, coming soon to siliconlovefield.ch
AI in Action - Practical AI with chatbots, agents, and AI orchestration
Workshop with BEGASOFT AG
At the live showcase, you'll experience how an idea is transformed into functioning AI agents. First, we'll present the common foundation: We'll demonstrate our AI orchestration platform Brandbot , the use case, and our methodical approach—from evaluation to implementation and transformation.
MCP entdecken - Wie das Model Context Protocol KI erweitert
Workshop mit Unic
Experience how artificial intelligence transcends itself! In this exclusive workshop, Lukas, Niels, and Martin from Unic's Innovation Lab will demonstrate how the Model Context Protocol (MCP) connects AI systems with external tools, data sources, and real business power.
Hands-on AI experience: Learn prompting & Battle
Workshop with inovio GmbH
Experience generative KL live! In this practical workshop, we'll show you how to achieve fast results with clever prompts. After a short introduction, you'll practice in small groups before competing against each other in a prompting battle. Ideal for anyone who wants to understand KL in a playful way and apply it directly.
AI for SMEs: Maximize the use of ChatGPT & Co
Workshop with incratec GmbH
AI and SMEs are a perfect combination – AI can simplify many tasks and processes, saving money and time. Tobias Kluge, an AI expert from Bern, provides an overview and examples of how this can be achieved optimally: without expensive investments in AI tools, while observing data protection and security – and a concrete implementation plan.
Our exhibitors for the F{ai}R included:
Unic
Huge thanks to Selma and Sandro from WORKSPACE & MORE for their energetic support of the whole concept, and this massive day's program.
Attention listeners
During inovio's Prompt Battle and later in the Apéro, we got to hear a very exclusive live performance from rising electronic artist CyberGwen – a technologist performing on purely non-generative electronic synthesizers. Stop by our Hackathon at the very same location on Thursday night to experience her full show!
The works on this blog are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License