Another successful run of the “AI & Discrimination” school workshops

Following the first successful run in the summer of 2025, the workshops on the topic of “AI & Discrimination” designed by the DIID took place for the second time from 13 to 15 July. A total of three school classes, each comprising around 25 pupils from Düsseldorf’s Görres-Gymnasium, spent the five-hour workshop developing knowledge and skills for the responsible use of AI and exploring how these applications can reinforce discriminatory structures.

AI is increasingly shaping our society and will lead to fundamental changes in all areas of life in the foreseeable future. Many AI applications, such as ChatGPT and many others, are already commonplace tools for young pupils. Whether these changes will be equally beneficial for everyone also depends on successful ethical reflection. The ‘AI & Discrimination’ workshop was developed through the conceptual refinement of the DIID teaching project ‘Ethical Issues of Artificial Intelligence’. The original format of a 90-minute school lesson was expanded into a five-hour workshop and adapted to the needs of pupils in Years 8 to 11. In terms of content, the workshop addressed the concept of discrimination and linked this to an explanation of the basic mechanisms underlying algorithmic decision-making. Moral decisions were put to the test using the ‘Moral Machine’ and discussed in group sessions. In this way, the pupils’ understanding of the opportunities and risks associated with the growing use of AI was enhanced, as was their ability to engage with these systems in a critical and responsible manner – a key skill for the future of young people in an increasingly digitalised society.

The workshops were led by DIID staff members Till Fahnenstich, who was responsible for the content of the workshop, and Anna Linstaedt. Didactically, the workshops were based on both face-to-face dialog and digital-interactive formats. Following the example of Rolf Sistermann's tried-and-tested “Bonbon model”, the students were first encouraged to come up with intuitive ideas and then guided towards scientific viewpoints for solving problems. To this end, the students were given an introduction to the technological foundations of AI and considered which discriminatory mechanisms could underlie them. Philosophical thought experiments such as the “trolley problem” and the “moral machine” served as concrete examples of ethical dilemmata. The subsequent discussions on the question of whether or not the students themselves discriminated through their decisions were lively and created starting points for further questions of ethical decision-making.

The final section of the workshop focused on the questions of how and why AI discriminates in the first place. As part of this, participants were introduced to the principles of machine learning using the ‘Teachable Machine’. This practical introduction demonstrated the concrete consequences of systematic biases in training data to the pupils. In the plenary session, the participants recognised the link between discriminatory tendencies in society and their reflection within the datasets used to train AI systems.

Each workshop concluded with a short quiz designed to test the knowledge gained during the session, as well as a feedback session for the workshop leaders. Overall, the workshops provided all participating pupils with new knowledge and skills in working with AI. The workshops thus offered added value in terms of content and interdisciplinarity to content already covered in class.

This second phase of the workshop programme built seamlessly on the successful pilot phase. All those involved gave a positive assessment and expressed great satisfaction. We would like to thank all the classes and teachers for their dedicated and enthusiastic participation!