Prof. Max Kaufmann (Institute of Clinical Neuroimmunology, LMU Munich) opened the inaugural CRC 1744 Seminar Series with a thought-provoking talk on the promise and limitations of artificial intelligence in biomedical discovery.

In his lecture "AI as co-scientist? Promise and limitations in biomedical discovery", Prof. Kaufmann reflected on the profound transformation currently reshaping scientific knowledge work — where AI accelerates hypothesis generation and data interpretation, but also introduces new challenges around reliability, interpretability, and the boundaries of machine-assisted science.

Prof. Kaufmann is a neurologist, neuroimmunologist, and data scientist who trained at the Universities of Hamburg and Oxford before completing a Master's in Information and Data Science at UC Berkeley. Since 2026, he leads the newly established Systems Neuroimmunology Laboratory at LMU Munich as W2 Professor, developing AI-integrated approaches to decode immune pathways in neurological diseases such as multiple sclerosis. His lab combines single-cell multiomics, spatial transcriptomics, and machine learning to translate complex molecular data into clinically meaningful insights.

The talk was hosted by Marios Georgakis (Project A01, CRC 1744).