Schlagwort: ‘AI’
Basic AI Supply in North Rhine-Westphalia: How the IT Center Is Contributing With KI:connect.nrw
Source: Own Illustration
Artificial intelligence is developing rapidly at universities in North Rhine-Westphalia. To ensure that they are well positioned in the long term, common technical foundations and responsible solutions are needed.
A new paper by Digitale Hochschule NRW (DH.NRW) describes precisely this approach. It shows how basic AI services can be established for all universities in North Rhine-Westphalia.
Digital Courtesy With Consequences – The Ecological Footprint of AI Chats
Source: Freepik
Artificial intelligence has become an integral part of everyday life for many university members. Language models such as ChatGPT provide support in writing scientific texts, programming, research, and translations. RWTH Aachen University also has a powerful AI system at its disposal in the form of RWTHgpt, which can be used in a variety of ways. While the technical possibilities are constantly growing, another question is increasingly coming into focus: How sustainable is our use of AI?
KI:connect.nrw – On the Path to 350,000 Users
Source: Own Illustration
In our first post, we introduced the launch of the KI:connect.nrw project. The aim of the project is to provide universities in NRW with a privacy-compliant and customizable way of using generative AI via the central webinterface of KI:connect. In the meantime, there has been significant progress: The following five universities are now successfully connected and are actively using KI:connect:
- FernUniversität in Hagen
- Fachhochschule Aachen
- Hochschule Ruhr West
- RWTH Aachen University
- Technische Hochschule Köln
This means that KI:connect is now available to more than 170,000 students and staff in the fields of study, teaching, and research.
AI-Tech MeetUp NRW 2025 in Bochum
Source: Own Illustration
On Monday, September 22, 2025, the AI-Tech MeetUp NRW — a collaboration between the state projects Open Source-KI.nrw, KI:edu.nrw, and KI:connect.nrw—took place at Ruhr University Bochum with a focus on (generative) artificial intelligence. We, as the IT Center of RWTH Aachen University, were also represented at this exciting event as participants and project partners.
KI:connect.nrw – Generative AI for All Universities in North Rhine-Westphalia
Source: Own Illustration
We have already told you about RWTHgpt in our previous posts. Due to the success of RWTHgpt, RWTH Aachen University decided in the summer of 2024 to make the infrastructure used at RWTHgpt available to other universities throughout the state in the future. This led to the creation of the KI:connect.nrw project, funded by the Ministry of Culture and Science.
AI Explained Simply: Overview of the Most Important Terms
Source: Own illustration
Artificial intelligence (AI) has long been part of our everyday lives. It assists with translating, helps with online searches or answers questions in the form of chatbots.
You can find more information about AI in this blog under the tag KI.
But what exactly is AI and how does it work? To better understand this, we asked RWTHgpt, our AI-supported chatbot. Who, if not him, could better explain how AI works? In the following graphic, RWTHgpt describes itself:
Towards the Future with AI – How the IT Center Is Supporting RWTH Aachen University on Its Way into the AI Age
Source: Pixabay
Artificial intelligence (AI) is no longer a topic for the future – it has arrived in the centre of society and is changing the way we research, learn and work. As one of Europe’s leading technical universities, it is therefore crucial for RWTH Aachen University to actively engage with the potential and challenges of this technology.
As RWTH’s central IT facility, the IT Center plays a central role in this: it develops technical solutions, ensures a data protection-compliant infrastructure and creates new services that enable the use of AI in the university context.
And not just since yesterday: For some time now, the IT Center has been working intensively on making artificial intelligence usable for the entire university.
WestAI: Access to AI for Business and Science
Source: Own illustration
The launch of the WestAI AI service centre will revolutionise access to artificial intelligence for companies and scientists in Germany. Under the leadership of the University of Bonn and with the support of leading research institutions from North Rhine-Westphalia, WestAI offers innovative AI services and state-of-the-art computing infrastructure that can be used immediately – and currently even free of charge. The IT Center of RWTH Aachen University offers part of this infrastructure.
New Milestone Reached – RWTHgpt
Source: IT Center and CLS
It’s done: Since July 16, 2024, RWTH Aachen University has been one of the first universities in Germany to offer a new service – RWTHgpt. This makes RWTH one of the pioneers in the university-wide use of artificial intelligence. In this article, we introduce you to the new AI tool, which is being developed and made available by the IT Center in cooperation with the Center for Teaching and Learning Services (CLS).
ZKI “Training” Working Group in Wolfenbüttel
Source: Own Illustration
The ZKI working group “Training” has invited to a joint meeting in Wolfenbüttel from May 14 to 16, 2024. As trainers in the Service and Communication department at the IT Center, we were of course there to exchange ideas with 10 other universities from all over Germany.
We dealt with the following questions, among others:
“How does training work at other universities? What is the recruitment and induction process like? What do modern job interviews look like for us?
