Florian Michahelles

I built a GenAI system that doesn’t hallucinate. Here is how: I worked on a project to help Swiss public institutions save hundreds hours of work a year. Here’s the problem our team tackled with Zazuko GmbH: - Swiss public institutions use graph databases to store and share data. - Only data experts can access it, because it requires writing complex database  queries. - For everyone else that knowledge is blocked. You can force everyone to learn a query language. Or you can build something that helps with it. The solution? A chatbot that lets non-technical users access data from graph databases. By just using natural language. You ask questions in plain language. But behind the scenes, there’s something more. A ChatGPT-powered engine plus RAG translates these questions into database query. The system understands data structure, and gives only relevant answers.  No hallucinations. Here’s the trick: Even if the model does hallucinate, it doesn’t matter. Hallucinations mean invalid database queries. Most of them get filtered out. Some make it through - but just return no results. Failed queries are never exposed to the user. The agent either knows the answer and gives it or it doesn’t and tells you that. So the user always gets 100% accurate results or no results at all. Never anything in between.

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Gotta Recognize 'Em All! - An AI Showcase for Kids! This Saturday Westenergie and E.ON will host the regionals for the famous German research competition for kids "Jugend Forscht Junior" for NRW and I was asked to do a talk on AI. I was therefore looking into an AI showcase that I hope the kids get excited about (target group is 4th graders). 🐙 I came up with the idea of the "Pokemon Card Recognizer": Show it any Pokemon card, and it tells you which one it is in real-time. So I got 200 used Pokemon cards form Amazon for 15€ and built a small application in my spare time... Why: ✅ Kids can interact with it in real-time, and I hope they're excited about Pokemon ✅ I can illustrate to idea of teaching a computer to see and detect things ✅ It's visual! There is only one broad-band connection to the brain: your eyes! How it works! ✅ YOLO12: I fine-tuned a pre-trained #yolo12 model on 200 Pokemon card images coming from videos I took with my action cam only on the label "card" (not the specific card or Pokemon). It was super easy, including labelling and training-time it took about 2 hours, and the accuracy is 95%+. ✅ ImageHash: It then calculates a set of image hashes on the bounding box for the card and compares with a database of pre-computed hashes on all 18,000 (!) Pokemon cards and recognizes the top 3 matching ones. So it can detect all 18,000 cards! ✅ Real-Time: Card detection with YOLO12 and recognition via hashes and tree-based nearest neighbours works in real-time and is directly displayed! I have created a short class lecture on the topic of AI and this specific example and will have the kids try it out with me! So much looking forward if kids will like it! What do you think? Will the kids like it?! #data_on #welovetechnology #itsonus #computervision #pokemon #ai #yolo

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🚀 Exciting news for innovation in Land Baden-Württemberg ("THE LÄND") and Schwarz Digits is very proud to be part of it. Today the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy selected 10 EXIST #startupfactories. NXTGN is among them. Congratulations to the team! 👏 The consortium includes the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), University of Stuttgart, Heidelberg University, Ulm University, and Stuttgart Media University, IPAI, Campus Founders, NXTGN aims to unite top-tier research with technology-driven startups and the economic strength of the Mittelstand (SMEs). The goals are ambitious: 💥 Enable the founding of more than 300 deep-tech startups by 2030. 🏗️ Support the creation of over 10,000 new jobs in future-focused industries. 💰 Secure at least €1 billion in private venture capital for startups. Facilitate over 1,000 collaborations between startups and medium-sized businesses. Looking forward to work with Philippe Ruetti and Adrian Thoma in the next year via the Institute of Cybersecurity & Digital Sovereignty at Schwarz Digits. Details in the (German) press release here: https://lnkd.in/dad8q8jc Details from BMWE: https://lnkd.in/d68rsfi6 #DeepTech #Innovation #BadenWürttemberg #MadeInGermany #Startups #VentureCapital #FutureOfTech

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𝐒𝐮𝐛𝐬𝐜𝐫𝐢𝐩𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐅𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 – 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐀𝐈-𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐲 𝐅𝐮𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐉𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐦 𝐀𝐈, 𝐁𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐥𝐞𝐬 & 𝐋𝐨𝐲𝐚𝐥𝐭𝐲: 𝐟𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐡 𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐮𝐞 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐲𝐛𝐨𝐨𝐤 Over 130 subscription leaders gathered in #Hamburg for the joint annual conference of the Bundesverband Abonnement e.V. and the Verband deutscher Lesezirkel e.V. Association. The big message from chairman Martin Lange: “Further obstacles to winning subscribers are simply not acceptable.” ➡️ His wish-list was crystal clear: 0 % VAT on press products, leaner GDPR interpretation, zero bureaucracy around consent, no written “double-opt-in”, and a fast fix for the “Fair Contracts” pitfall that currently handcuffs free-market journalism. Some take-aways I found really helpful: ➡️ Christopher Buschow: Readers value choice—but pay for convenience. Smart bundles (print + audio, news + sports, family packs) lift ARPU up to 35 % while keeping churn down. Add dynamic pricing and you’ve got a retention flywheel. ➡️ “Subscriber Life-Cycle 360°” – Sophia Heinig (Circuly), Donika Lilova (F.A.Z.), Torsten Müller (Urban Sports Club) and Enrique Tarragona (DIE ZEIT) shared best practices on scoring, conversational onboarding and upsell-friendly chats. Moderated by Lennart Schneider. ➡️ So: what's next? My take from the Arvato Systems side: the future subscriber journey is #AI-driven, #reader-centric and #privacy-safe. “Smart Reads” personalise every article via semantic tagging, scoring and real-time recommendation – cutting choice overload and boosting engagement  . Quick wins start with newsletter #personalisation, evolve into recommendation MVPs, and culminate in generative content once the data foundations are solid  . Hybrid build-and-buy models give publishers speed and control – think SaaS engines for rapid pilots, own IP for the secret sauce  . If we reduce friction on the policy side and double-down on AI innovation, we super-charge both reader value and revenue. Let’s team up to turn bold ideas into working code. Thank you Karina Pusch for inviting me to speak about how AI is transforming the customer journey! Find all pics from the fabulous Klaus Knuffmann in the link below. Thank you to all the amazing people I met. Looking forward to follow-ups together with Matthias Lips. And stay tuned: AR is about to reshape how we experience news! #smartreads

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𝗚𝗲𝗿𝗺𝗮𝗻𝘆 𝗵𝗮𝘀 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗹𝗱-𝗰𝗹𝗮𝘀𝘀 𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗰𝗵. 𝗕𝘂𝘁 𝗵𝗼𝘄 𝗱𝗼 𝘄𝗲 𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗼 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗹𝗱-𝗰𝗹𝗮𝘀𝘀 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘁𝘂𝗽𝘀? In my latest contribution to VC Magazin, I explore how closer #collaboration between universities, industry, and the startup ecosystem can unlock transformation – especially in deeptech. The insight is simple: scientific excellence alone doesn’t lead to innovation impact. What we need are: 🔹 Early IP clarity and spin-out support 🔹 Entrepreneurial mindsets at universities 🔹 Strong incentives for researchers and professors to commercialize their ideas 🔹 And, above all, systematic bridges between science and market As I said in the interview for the article, 𝙂𝙚𝙧𝙢𝙖𝙣𝙮 𝙝𝙖𝙨 𝙖 𝙥𝙤𝙬𝙚𝙧𝙛𝙪𝙡 𝙧𝙚𝙨𝙚𝙖𝙧𝙘𝙝 𝙚𝙣𝙜𝙞𝙣𝙚, 𝙗𝙪𝙩 𝙬𝙚 𝙤𝙛𝙩𝙚𝙣 𝙨𝙩𝙖𝙡𝙡 𝙖𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙥𝙤𝙞𝙣𝙩 𝙤𝙛 𝙖𝙥𝙥𝙡𝙞𝙘𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣. Especially in areas like AI, energy, and biotech, the potential is enormous – if we get the translation process right. At Start2 Group, we see this every day through our programs like #Cashcamp and #Kickstart by German Accelerator. Personally, I also see this as a professor at Bayerisches Innovations Transformations Zentrum (BITZ) by Technische Hochschule Deggendorf: 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙩𝙖𝙡𝙚𝙣𝙩 𝙞𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙚. 𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙩𝙚𝙘𝙝 𝙞𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙚. 𝙉𝙤𝙬 𝙬𝙚 𝙣𝙚𝙚𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙨𝙩𝙧𝙪𝙘𝙩𝙪𝙧𝙚𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙖𝙡𝙡𝙤𝙬 𝙧𝙚𝙜𝙞𝙤𝙣𝙖𝙡 𝙨𝙩𝙧𝙚𝙣𝙜𝙩𝙝𝙨 𝙩𝙤 𝙗𝙚𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙚 𝙜𝙡𝙤𝙗𝙖𝙡 𝙨𝙩𝙤𝙧𝙞𝙚𝙨. Big thanks to the team at VC Magazin for sparking this conversation. The full article features great insights from leaders like Marc Kley, one of the early initiators of the Gateway Factory and Philipp Herrmann, one of the managing directors of the BRYCK Startup Alliance - two of the winners of the nationwide startup factory competition by EXIST - Existenzgründungen aus der Wissenschaft from North Rhine-Westphalia – all pushing in the same direction: 𝗺𝗮𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗚𝗲𝗿𝗺𝗮𝗻𝘆 𝗮 𝘁𝗿𝘂𝗲 𝗜𝗻𝗻𝗼𝘃𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗘𝗻𝗴𝗶𝗻𝗲. ➡️ Read the article here: https://lnkd.in/duRDBXJd #StartupEcosystem #DeepTech #TechTransfer #UniversitySpinouts #InnovationPolicy #Start2Group #IPTransfer #GermanyInnovates #VCMagazin

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Official opening ceremony of gAIn, the Next Generation AI Computing, by Prof. Gitta Kutyniok, in the historical LMU Große Aula. This is a joint initiative of Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München , Technische Universität München and Technische Universität Dresden, supported by the Bavarian and Saxonian States, whose state ministers Blume and Gemkow will give a keynote in a few minutes. The goal of the joint initiative is to develop a comprehensive, mathematics-based concept for the next generation of "Green AI" systems. The focus will be on application-based AI hardware-software combinations aimed at maximizing energy efficiency, trustworthiness, and legal compliance. It is difficult to maintain an overview of the many initiatives around AI in Germany on the various federal levels, even for a long-time follower like myself. But every initiative is a good opportunity to meet and network with important stakeholders in this field. https://lnkd.in/d3T3DwWD

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🚀 Austria's startup ecosystem hits a major milestone: Emmi AI has just secured the country's largest-ever seed funding round — raising €15 million! The Linz-based deep-tech startup, spun off from NXAI, is transforming industrial simulations. By leveraging AI, Emmi AI replaces slow numerical calculations with rapid predictions of complex physical processes — from aerodynamics to material deformation — enabling businesses to create digital twins and significantly accelerate their design processes. The pioneering team includes CEO Dennis Just, AI researcher Johannes Brandstetter (formerly Microsoft), and Miks Mikelsons (ex-Lokalise). Investors in this landmark round include 3VC, Speedinvest, PUSH, and Serena, valuing the startup between up to 100 million! An incredible achievement for Austria’s tech landscape and a powerful endorsement of European AI innovation. https://lnkd.in/dTtdzujy #deeptech #ai #seedfunding #physicsai #3VC #wkostartupnow

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