How do humans, animals, and artificial intelligence make decisions in an uncertain world? And what can different research fields learn from one another? These are the questions explored by the Long-term Research Group “Robust Decision Heuristics for Natural and Artificial Intelligence”, which has been based at ZiF since September 2025.
In the latest episode of the ZiF podcast “Interspaces”, the leaders of the research group discuss their work and the key challenges of their interdisciplinary project. Guests include Mohan Sridharan (Chair in Robot Systems at the University of Edinburgh), Özgür Şimşek (Professor of Computer Science at the University of Bath), and psychologist Gerd Gigerenzer (Berlin).
© Bielefeld University/ ZiF
The conversation focuses on how decisions are made under uncertainty by humans, animals, and AI systems. The researchers discuss how insights from psychology, behavioral science, computer science, and robotics can be integrated to develop robust and explainable decision-making strategies for both natural and artificial intelligence. Examples range from human decision-making to autonomous robots and robot soccer.
On the occasion of the research group’s second workshop, taking place at ZiF from June 22 to July 10, the scientists also provide insights into current research topics such as robustness, long-term decision-making processes, and the explainability of decisions. In addition, they discuss the opportunities and challenges of interdisciplinary collaboration and explore what the study of natural and artificial intelligence can learn from each other.
