“I have the feeling that by using AI intensively, we could unlearn our own cognitive abilities,” said one student, summarizing his experiences with artificial intelligence. Together with our partner Cornelsen Verlag, we invited students to attend a screening at the Filmkunst 66 cinema on November 6 as part of the Berlin Science Week. Titled “More than 1 and 0 – How AI is shaping the lives of young people”, we started the evening with a screening of the award-winning documentary “Uncanny Me”. We wanted to take the perspective of the students of “Generation AI” to get to know their view on the digital future.

In just a few weeks, the students developed short films that critically examine the documentary and artificial intelligence. The project was led by Anne-Christin Zeng, teacher and media education officer at the Carl-von-Ossietzky-Gymnasium, with video maker Franziska Bährle supporting the students in the technical aspects. The results are diverse and high-quality films in which the students process personal experiences and make their point of view clear: The digital transformation, with all its tools, apps and applications, needs critical thinking and reflection. This assessment is also consistent with the experiences of teacher Anne-Christin Zeng and Helena Mihaljević, Professor of Data Science at HTW Berlin and the ECDF: “Many AI models that run on everyday devices such as smartphones offer beauty functions that lighten skin tones or perform other stereotypical beautifications,” explained Mihaljević. She emphasized that these mechanisms are often based on biased data and lead to people perceiving themselves or others as distorted images: “The last two years have seen incredible speed in the field of AI. A lot of it can be sold as something real today, even though it's been edited,” the professor explains. “That's why it's important to strengthen students' self-learning skills and to promote skills such as critical thinking and teamwork in order to be able to distinguish between fact and fiction,” says Anne Zeng, describing her new daily routine. 

In the films and the subsequent discussion, the students took a rather critical view of the influence of AI. In many films, the possible emotional dependence on AI played a role, as did the fear of not being able to distinguish between reality and virtuality. One insight for the students during the filming was, for example, that the results of ChatGPT and other applications can be faulty and must be critically questioned. 

The event was jointly organized by the Einstein Center Digital Future and Cornelsen Verlag as part of Berlin Science Week. The international science festival takes place every year between November 1 and 10. Benjamin Heinz from Cornelsen Verlag took over the moderation of the event.