Charging Cars and Healing Patients: From Animal Behavior to Human Innovation

We are pleased to announce that Tim Landgraf, Professor of Artificial Intelligence at Freie Universität Berlin, will visit Freie Universität Berlin on May 13, 2025. During his stay, he will provide insights into his extensive research and expertise in the field of Artificial & Collective Intelligence and address the exciting topic “Charging Cars and Healing Patients: From Animal Behavior to Human Innovation.”

When: Tuesday, 13.05.2025, 4:00–5:00 PM

Where: Lecture Hall 315, Garystr. 21

In this talk, he will demonstrate how complexity in nature – arising from interactions between molecules, cells, individuals, and ecosystems – can be both studied and harnessed for the benefit of humans. His research group investigates social complexity in animal systems such as bees and fish and uses tools from machine learning and robotics to identify principles of collective behavior. He will present his recent work on the communication and navigation of honeybees and explain the insights they provide into distributed decision-making processes.

As AI models become increasingly complex, the question of how to understand and explain them becomes ever more pressing. He will present methods from the field of Explainable AI that have been developed to interpret such models.

Finally, he will present real-world applications that have emerged from his findings – from a language-based system that supports patients in medical education and consent processes, to a decentralized, bee-inspired system for managing the charging of electric vehicles. These examples vividly demonstrate how biological insights can inspire technological innovation – building a bridge from nature to society.

Biography

Tim Landgraf is Professor of Artificial & Collective Intelligence at Freie Universität Berlin, where he researches and teaches various aspects of intelligent systems. His group develops a wide range of tools such as biomimetic robots, computer vision tracking algorithms, and interpretable machine learning methods. In addition, they work on practical applications such as swarm-controlled electric cars or LLMs that assist patients.

Tim is also active in the start-up scene – as a mentor to several Berlin-based start-ups, a technology advisor to investors, and the founder of the AI consultancy CIATA.