Project orientation
Artificial intelligence is fundamentally changing how decisions are made, processes are controlled, and information is processed. And not only that. It is also changing how we understand ourselves and our relationships with others, which values are important to us, and how we define them. Its widespread use offers enormous opportunities, but also brings with it significant challenges – especially when AI systems are deployed without reflection or without a clear regulatory framework.
A key problem is that technological innovation often progresses faster than the social and legal debate surrounding its consequences. Future specialists and managers, in particular, must therefore learn early on not only to work with AI-supported systems, but also to critically evaluate their potential and risks. Against this backdrop, the idea for the seminar “BreAkIng Bad: Hacking the AI Act” was born. The goal was to provide students with a practical understanding of AI regulation in an interactive format by engaging with the European Union’s AI Act. This represents a relevant and controversial regulatory framework that demonstrates how technological innovation, philosophical and ethical aspects, and legal oversight influence each other.
As part of the follow-up, the content developed in the project seminar was modularized and integrated into existing courses.
Review and results
A key success factor was the involvement of experts from various disciplines, such as consulting, ethics, and law. This fostered interdisciplinary discourse and demonstrated that AI regulation is not a purely technical or legal issue, but requires a holistic approach. Students were thus able to gain exposure to diverse perspectives and critically examine their own viewpoints. The project seminar format, in which students were required to advise fictitious but realistic clients, created a practice-oriented learning environment. This not only fostered a deep understanding of the content but also important key competencies such as critical thinking, analytical skills, and teamwork. The use of case studies and interactive discussions made the complex topic more tangible.
A key outcome of the project is raising students’ awareness of their future responsibilities in dealing with artificial intelligence. They gained not only technical and regulatory knowledge but also an awareness of the ethical implications. This is particularly relevant, as many of them will later work in positions where they make decisions about the use of AI or perhaps even help shape corresponding regulations.
A central goal of the second phase was to prepare the developed materials so that they could also be used by other instructors. In addition, contacts were established with other instructors. Through the targeted preparation and dissemination of the materials, the project was able to have an impact beyond the original seminar group. Instructors interested in the topic received support in integrating the content into their own courses. This contributes to further embedding awareness of AI regulation in higher education and, in the long term, bringing more students into contact with the topic.
Tips from lecturers for lecturers
In the first phase of the project, a strong transfer of knowledge and skills was achieved by the project members with teaching experience. Particular emphasis was also placed on the targeted involvement of external experts. This enabled the development of an interdisciplinary network to shed light on the tensions surrounding the use of (generative) AI. Furthermore, the ability to coordinate interdisciplinary and practice-oriented projects – i.e., projects that extend beyond one’s own field of expertise – was expanded. Given the overall societal significance of the topic, this skill gain is considered extremely relevant. In the second part of the project, the skills for concisely preparing teaching materials (modularizing the developed teaching content) for different target groups were honed and the ability to present the content was further developed.