Twice in action: Prof. Dr. Alexander Decker promotes understanding of digitalization among young target group

Prof. Dr. Alexander Decker, Vice Dean for Marketing and Alumni at the THI Business School, was out and about twice at the start of the semester to introduce young people to the topics of artificial intelligence (AI) and search engines.

On 2 October 2024, he took part in the “Day of Democracy” in Starnberg - an event organized by the student representatives of Kempfenhausen and Starnberg grammar schools together with “Starnberger Dialog”. Under the title “AI and democracy - opportunities and risks”, around 200 eighth-graders were given an introduction to the potential and dangers of AI in connection with populism by Decker and Leopold Beer, a member of the Open Search Foundation. The aim was to raise pupils' awareness of democratic values and encourage critical thinking

This was followed on October 3, 2024 by the “Discoverers' Day” at the Garching research campus in the Leibniz Rechenzentrum (LRZ), an event which was part of the popular campaign “Open doors with the mouse”. Here, Prof. Decker was also active with the Open Search Foundation. For the third time, he gave children aged 6 to 10 an understanding of how search engines work. This year, the focus was on algorithms: Using an interactive bubble sort game, Decker playfully introduced the children to the world of search algorithms and explained step by step how search engines rank and present results.

Both events highlight the importance of raising young people's awareness of the challenges and opportunities of digitalization at an early age - a cause to which Prof. Dr. Decker is highly committed.