Pascal Kaufmann is a Swiss tech entrepreneur.
Early life
Pascal Kaufmann was born in Zurich, Switzerland. He joined the
Kantonsschule Zürcher Unterland (KZU) with a focus on ancient languages and philosophy. Kaufmann received his master's degree in
Neuroscience
Neuroscience is the scientific study of the nervous system (the brain, spinal cord, and peripheral nervous system), its functions and disorders. It is a multidisciplinary science that combines physiology, anatomy, molecular biology, development ...
and
Economics
Economics () is the social science that studies the Production (economics), production, distribution (economics), distribution, and Consumption (economics), consumption of goods and services.
Economics focuses on the behaviour and intera ...
at the
Swiss Federal Institute of Technology The Swiss Federal Institutes of Technology are two institutes of higher education in Switzerland (part of the ETH Domain):
* Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne
Swiss may refer to:
* the adjectival form of Switzerland
*Swiss people ...
(ETH) in Zurich and
Northwestern University
Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston, Illinois. Founded in 1851, Northwestern is the oldest chartered university in Illinois and is ranked among the most prestigious academic institutions in the world.
Charte ...
in Evanston, Illinois, United States.
Career
In 2012, while at the Artificial Intelligence Laboratory of the
University of Zurich Kaufmann initiated and developed a humanoid robot called
Roboy
Roboy is an advanced humanoid robot that was developed at the Artificial Intelligence Laboratory of the University of Zurich, and was publicly presented on March 8, 2013. Originally designed to emulate humans with the future possibility of help ...
, with Prof. Dr.
Rolf Pfeifer
Rolf Pfeifer (born 1947) is a former professor of computer science at the Department of Informatics University of Zurich, and director of the Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, where he retired from in 2014. Currently he is a specially appointed ...
. Roboy combines the latest insights from the field of embodied intelligence research and the most recent advances in the field of
robotics
Robotics is an interdisciplinary branch of computer science and engineering. Robotics involves design, construction, operation, and use of robots. The goal of robotics is to design machines that can help and assist humans. Robotics integrat ...
.
Kaufmann takes on a more skeptical view on the current state of AI, in particular about the analogy that the brain is comparable to a computer.
His vision "to think with the power of 1,000 brains" gave rise to the concept of the "Corporate Brain" which is today the core technology of the software company
Starmind International which he founded with Marc Vontobel in 2010. The company is based in Zurich, Switzerland and has operations in New York and Frankfurt.
In 2017, Kaufmann initiated the non-profit Mindfire foundation dedicated to progressing AI openly, responsibly and ethically. In 2019, he gave rise to th
Mindfire Group Ultimately, to use the power of human level AI to solve our most pressing global challenges. Kaufmann ist president of the Swiss AI Award dedicated to promoting artificial intelligence. In 2023, he co-founded the Swiss AI startu
AlpineAI [https://swisstrade.com/news/detail/news/swissgpt-bringt-sichere-ki-in-unternehmen/]
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kaufmann, Pascal
1978 births
Living people
Swiss neuroscientists