HANOVER (dpa-AFX) - Continental is convinced that the application of artificial intelligence (AI) need not spark too many fears - in terms of job concerns as well as human control. She does not share concerns of widespread job losses, the auto supplier's chief human resources officer, Ariane Reinhart, said Monday in a roundtable discussion on the topic. "One thing that will certainly not happen to us is that we will have too few jobs." To be sure, automation and algorithms are likely to lead to savings in companies. "But we then need the employees elsewhere."

AI is already making some simple or very tedious, repetitive tasks easier. It offers opportunities not just for software experts, he said: "It's being woven into all daily work." When recruiting new staff, he said, robo-programs could help avoid potential discrimination rather than exacerbate it. "We already expect corresponding benefits there." Reinhart emphasized, "It's about education." Politicians must help present the potential and risks of AI more precisely, he said. "It must create a framework for this."

Conti has been using AI for some time in internal processes, in production and especially in the development of technologies for autonomous driving. A representative survey of more than 2,000 people in Germany commissioned by the Dax company found that more than half (55 percent) are skeptical or reject its use. 61 percent expect job losses, 65 percent are in favor of AI control based on ethical standards, and 47 percent fear a general "disconnection" of humans over the coming decades.

"Fears should be taken seriously," said computer science professor and AI researcher Kristian Kersting of TU Darmstadt. "But the fear that the machine could one day take over completely is - if at all - very far away." The emergence of a machine "consciousness" cannot be ruled out, he said - the question is by what exactly and what consequences this would have. "Somewhere, then, something like morality would probably have to be anchored, as in the human brain." Along the way, however, control can be maintained through appropriate regulation, he said.

Continental currently employs about 1,200 AI specialists, and plans to have 1,500 by the end of the year. According to engineering chief Gilles Mabire, it's a matter of both developing in-house and applying external algorithms and systems. Reinhart said software-based automation could help steer a lack of skilled workers into other industries, such as skilled trades or nursing - if employees brought a willingness to upskill.

"There are risks, of course," Mabire said. "But AI and its behavior are programmed by humans. What's important here is the quality of the programming and the data." Conti has had an internal technology guide since 2020. Kersting demanded that, as in other areas, there should be some kind of professional ethics for AI use as well. Overall, he said, it would be hard to do without it: "All companies in Germany should rely on AI. Because if they don't, I don't know how we're going to deal with demographic change."/jap/DP/ngu