Who needs science fiction when present reality is so spectaculat? That’s the question posed by artificial intelligence. AI has been in the new a lot lately thanks to ChatGPT, so we thought it would be good to look at what’s going in the area in Europe’s largest economy. Is there a German version of the famous chatbot? In what areas does AI have the greatest promise? Can international companies in the field find success if they set up shop in Germany? And why are German researchers so important in teaching AI to have a sense of humor? Azadeh Ghahghaie: Azadeh Ghahghaie is the director at the SAP.iO Berlin, which is part of the global network of equity-free startup accelerators of software giant SAP. There she helps promising startups to integrate with SAP solutions and accelerate their entry into a curated, inclusive ecosystem whose offerings can be easily accessed and deployed. Prof. Antonio Krüger Prof. Antonio Krüger is an internationally renowned expert in human-machine interaction and artificial intelligence. He’s the CEO and scientific director and head of the research area "Cognitive Assistance Systems" at the German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence (DFKI). He also holds the Globus Endowed Professorship for Computer Science at Saarland University and is head of the Ubiquitous Media Technology Lab and scientific director of the Innovative Retail Laboratory (IRL) at DFKI. Kian Mirshahi Kian Mirshahi is the founder and CEO of Mayday.ai, a young company devoted to innovative artificial intelligence approaches for disasters and risk intelligence. Mayday has gained recognition and accolades from many UN agencies, as well the European and the German Space Agencies. Mirshahi is an advocate of using the power of AI to manage the impacts of climate change impacts and create resilient communities around the world.