Zukunftspreis

This morning, the nominees for the 2024 Deutscher Zukunftspreis ("Future Prize") were announced, and our nyris founder and CEO, Dr. Anna Lukasson-Herzig, is honoured to be nominated alongside Prof. Dr. Björn Ommer of Ludwig Maximilian University, Munich. Dr. Anna Lukasson-Herzig joined Prof. Dr. Ommer in Munich for the nomination ceremony, celebrating their joint work on the creation and application of "Stable Diffusion."

Communication between humans and computers has become increasingly easy thanks to ongoing advancements in Artificial Intelligence. Computers can now understand and execute requests through natural human language. However, the enormous computing power and resources required to further these developments are often limited to large tech companies that already possess the necessary infrastructure.

Prof. Dr. Björn Ommer’s research aims to reduce these dependencies by creating AI models that are equally powerful but require less computing power, with "Stable Diffusion" serving as a foundation for democratizing Generative AI.

Stable Diffusion is an open-source Generative AI algorithm that generates images based on specific inputs, such as text prompts, images, or a combination of both. The process consists of two phases: the forward process, where random noise (i.e. static) is gradually added to a clean image, creating pixel randomness, and the reverse process, where the algorithm progressively removes the noise to restore the image. The model is trained to predict and subtract a calculated amount of noise at each step. Since the noise removal process is not deterministic, the final output is a newly generated image that is similar to but not identical to the original—an inherently unique image created by AI.

This innovative approach requires less computational power, making generative AI more efficient and accessible. The goal has always been to democratize this technology by making it free and open to everyone, encouraging new applications and innovation across various fields.

One of these applications is the visual identification AI at nyris. Our system helps users identify items using images as search input. For example, when a complex mechanical machine breaks down, the defective part can be photographed, and nyris identifies the correct spare part from extensive catalogues in milliseconds. When our customers lack image data for their search index, nyris can provide synthetic data services to create photorealistic models from CAD data. Stable Diffusion offers interesting potential to generate high-quality images for clients with imperfect or low-quality visual data. The Synthetic Data team at nyris can generate multiple high-quality images of spare parts from a single product image or detailed description, narrowing the data gap for our customers.

The nyris team and researchers at Ludwig Maximilian University in Munich are working closely together to further develop Stable Diffusion and create new applications. The long-term goal is to expand the possibilities of generative AI and, above all, make communication between humans and machines more efficient.

We would like to thank the Zukunftspreis Jury for their nomination and careful consideration, and we offer congratulations to the other candidates: INFINEON for Power for the energy transition - Electrifying large drives with revolutionary energy-saving chips Dr. Konrad Schraml and OSRAM for Digital light - intelligent LED technology for the world of tomorrow Dr. Norwin von Malm, Stefan Groetsch, Hermann Oppermann.

Make sure to tune into the award ceremony in Berlin on November 27th!

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