AI in use for better work: Two LMU projects receive awards

LMU researcher Dr. Silvia Castro and her project team colleagues Hoa Ho and Svenja Friess have been awarded the AI at Work Award by the US non-profit organization Schmidt Sciences. The award promotes international research projects that address the impact of artificial intelligence on work processes and working conditions.

Castro, a postdoctoral researcher at LMU, is investigating the use of AI tools in the banking sector in East Africa in her award-winning project. Using a randomized controlled trial, she is investigating how AI-supported applications affect employee productivity, customers, and the promotion of financial inclusion in the Global South. Her research team for the study also included Svenja Friess and Hoa Ho from LMU.

Another project involving Professor Florian Englmaier, an economist at LMU, also received an award. The project is led by Jorge Tamayo, assistant professor at Harvard Business School, and analyzes the use of an industrial AI co-pilot. It examines its effects on productivity, autonomy, and job satisfaction among skilled and production workers in real industrial work environments.

Castro and Englmaier are among a total of 19 researchers whose projects received the AI at Work Award this year. The Schmidt Sciences organization, founded by entrepreneur couple Eric and Wendy Schmidt, promotes socially relevant scientific research worldwide. The award-winning projects receive up to 200,000 US-Dollar in funding.