‘AI Is Bigger Than Anything That Has Changed Our State In Recent Decades’
North Rhine-Westphalia’s Minister President Wüst attended the “Bertelsmann Forum” in Gütersloh.
North Rhine-Westphalia wants to become the leading federal state in the development and use of artificial intelligence – and is well on its way to achieving this goal, according to its Minister President Hendrik Wüst, who explained why at yesterday evening’s “Bertelsmann Forum.” Wüst had come to the Corporate Center in Gütersloh at the invitation of Bertelsmann Chairman & CEO Thomas Rabe to speak on “Seizing opportunities, becoming a pioneer – North Rhine-Westphalia on the path from coal to AI.” The topic is of direct relevance to Bertelsmann as well, given that the Group employs close to 19,000 people in this federal state alone. Its largest bases are Gütersloh and the East Westphalia region, and Cologne as the headquarters of RTL Deutschland. During his visit, Hendrik Wüst also repeatedly touched on current events – such as the coalition agreement signed in Berlin earlier that day and Washington’s temporary suspension of U.S. tariffs for EU countries.
More than 300 guests had come to listen to the Minister President’s remarks and the subsequent, equally good-humored and relaxed discussion with RTL presenter Pinar Atalay. Besides Liz Mohn, Supervisory Board Chairman Christoph Mohn, and host Thomas Rabe, the guests included Bertelsmann Executive Board members Immanuel Hermreck and Carsten Coesfeld, Bertelsmann Stiftung Executive Board Chairman Hannes Ametsreiter, numerous Bertelsmann executives and employees, Gütersloh Mayor Matthias Trepper, representatives of federal and state politics, and high-ranking executives from companies, organizations, and initiatives in the region. It was the 161st edition of the “Bertelsmann Forum” socio-political lecture series, which is organized and managed by Bertelsmann Corporate Communications under the direction of Karin Schlautmann.
‘We want to join NRW in becoming the country’s leading region’
Hendrik Wüst opened his speech with a summary statement on the evening’s topic: “Artificial intelligence is bigger than anything that has changed our country in recent decades,” he declared. “We live in a world in which changes happen at breakneck speed. We want and need to keep pace here, and we want to join NRW in becoming the leading region in Germany,” said the North Rhine-Westphalian Minister President, and went on to give an overview of what his federal state has already achieved in recent years, and especially in recent months. For instance, “Jupiter”, the fastest computer “at least in Europe, if not the world”, has now been installed in Jülich and is now freely accessible to all interested researchers, said Wüst. This raises the technological bar in Europe – including in cooperation with the neighboring Benelux countries – and makes Europe less dependent on the U.S. and Asia. The fact that North Rhine-Westphalia is an attractive region for emerging technologies is also demonstrated by the fact that Microsoft, for one, is investing three billion euros in a place where brown coal used to be mined, without any sort of subsidies.
Among the reasons Hendrik Wüst cited for this attractiveness are the efficient energy supply -in place thanks to coal and heavy industry – the “research power” provided by nearby universities and – contrary to what is often assumed – the rapid administrative processes, which made it possible to install Jupiter in just two and a half years, e.g. “Change is something we do well,” Wüst emphasized, “but we have to actively pursue it and seize our opportunities now so that the change can give rise to great things.” Another key point in his speech was that this requires – besides mainstreaming AI skills in society at large – a fundamentally open mindset and more willingness to take risks. Quite aside from the excessive regulation seen in many fields, people also need to be willing to embrace something new and accept that mistakes will be made on the path to the future, to be able to simply try things out in order to make progress possible. “I am campaigning for a social discourse to this effect,” said Hendrik Wüst. Overall, he said, he believes Germany and North Rhine-Westphalia have the best conditions for future economic success.
Cooperation project on loneliness among young people
He concluded by once again thanking Liz Mohn, her Liz Mohn Foundation and the Bertelsmann Stiftung for their joint cooperation project to combat loneliness among young people. “Loneliness is the new social issue of our time. Not only does it have a negative impact on the lives of those affected, it also is especially damaging to social cohesion and solidarity,” said Wüst, before Pinar Atalay took the floor to interview the Minister President about the latest political developments at national and international level. He particularly emphasized the successful cooperation within Europe, noting that North Rhine-Westphalia will do its part in this.
The “Bertelsmann Forum” is a socio-political lecture series that has been an integral part of Bertelsmann’s communications in Gütersloh for five decades. Many high-ranking personages from politics, business, culture, show business, and the media have come here to discuss socio-political issues of the day on the podium, with past participants including Tony Blair, Willy Brandt, Ignatz Bubis, Joschka Fischer, Saul Friedländer, Václav Klaus, Helmut Kohl, Ursula von der Leyen, Angela Merkel, Helmut Schmidt, Gerhard Schröder, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, and Roger Willemsen.
