Ringvorlesung „KI und Sprache“

As part of the activities of the Centre "Language – Variation – Multilingualism" (SVM), Prof. Dr. Christoph Schroeder and Dr. Jan Fliessbach organised the lecture series "AI and Language" in the summer semester of 2026, combined with the interdisciplinary Master's seminar "Generative AI and Language."

The seven lectures addressed, among other topics, colonial continuities in the AI industry (Prof. Bettina Migge), the attribution of mental states to language models (Dr. Charles Rathkopf), the use of AI in linguistic research (Dr. Jan Fliessbach & Johanna Rockstroh) and in writing instruction (Prof. Hans-Georg Müller), the problem-solving capabilities of large language models (Prof. Alexander Koller), the future of foreign language teaching (panel discussion with Prof. Oliver Günther, Christoph Lehker, Prof. Kathleen Plötner, Prof. Katharina Wesselmann), and the role of AI in humanities teaching (Prof. Annette Gerstenberg, Jan Jokisch). The series thus brought together perspectives from linguistics, philosophy of language, didactics, and the digital humanities.

The DH.UP microgrant funds were used for honoraria and travel expenses for external guests. This made it possible to involve researchers from University College Dublin, Forschungszentrum Jülich, and the Universities of Bonn, Bremen, and Saarland in the lecture series. The funding thus contributed significantly to the disciplinary and institutional breadth of the programme.

The response to the lecture series was very strong. Each event was attended by more than 50 people, with individual sessions reaching up to 200 participants. Typically, around two thirds of attendees followed the events on site and around one third via Zoom. The hybrid format thus enabled broad participation by students, staff, and other interested parties beyond the University of Potsdam.

The accompanying seminar prepared and discussed the lectures, deepening them through additional readings and practical exercises. Students engaged both with the possibilities of AI-supported language analysis and with the methodological, didactic, and societal limitations of generative AI. The positive course evaluation confirms the added value of this close connection between a public lecture series and university teaching.

Programme and more information: Ringvorlesung „KI und Sprache“