09 Dec 2021

SAFE researchers participate in visionary project on artificial intelligence

Funding of 1.5 million euros combines expertise from economics and law, psychology, medicine, computer science, and educational research

Two researchers from the Leibniz Institute for Financial Research SAFE are participating in a project that aims to explore how artificial intelligence will affect society. Entitled “From Machine Learning to Machine Teaching (ML2MT) – Making Machines AND Humans Smarter”, Loriana Pelizzon, director of SAFE’s department Financial Markets, and Tobias Tröger, director of SAFE’s Law & Finance Cluster, are involved in the interdisciplinary project. SAFE Fellow Oliver Hinz, Chair of Information Systems and Information Management at Goethe University Frankfurt is the coordinator who also applied for the project together with colleagues from various academic disciplines.

With a total of 9.8 million euros, the Volkswagen Foundation is funding seven project consortia on ML2MT from social and technical sciences. The “Artificial Intelligence” initiative aims to promote cross-disciplinary and cross-national research on the responsible development of AI systems. In addition to Loriana Pelizzon, Tobias Tröger, and Oliver Hinz, colleagues from developmental psychology, medicine, computer science, and educational research are involved.

What humans can learn from machines and vice versa

The success of learning machines, as in the prime example of the board game Go (in the computer version “AlphaGo Zero”), has inspired the team. Their project aims at a better understanding of how humans and machines in collaborative human-AI systems can develop new knowledge. To this end, the analytical and technical foundations responsible for the successful transfer of new knowledge from intelligent machines to humans and vice versa are under scrutiny.

The starting point for the project is hybrid human-machine systems in case studies from medical diagnostics, economic decision-making, and financial market forecasting. The team aims to derive generalizable socio-technological and psychological insights and provide recommendations to further improve human-machine interaction.

All selected projects are scheduled to run for three to four years and will each receive approximately 1.5 million euros in funding. The initiative “Artificial Intelligence - Its Impact on Tomorrow’s Society” has been running since 2017. A total of 33.9 million euros has been approved to date. In 2022, the initiative is to be developed further.

Find further information on the research project “From Machine Learning to Machine Teaching (ML2MT) – Making Machines AND Humans Smarter” here.


Scientific contact

Prof. Loriana Pelizzon, Ph.D.

Deputy Scientific Director, Director Research Department "Financial Markets"

Prof. Dr. Tobias Tröger

Director Research Cluster "Law and Finance"