Conference in Innsbruck

What makes us happy and when AI brings danger

The largest "happiness conference" ever held in this form is taking place in Tyrol this week. Co-organizer Stefan Höfer from Innsbruck Medical University talks in advance about the lucky charms that everyone needs and new tools that can be dangerous. 

Happiness! We search for it all our lives. This unique feeling may be individual to a certain extent. But there are lucky charms that are good for everyone.

The trend to put the self first - the pursuit of happiness through self-optimization - may be legitimate. But other things are more important.

Stefan Höfer, Gesundheitspsychologe

Bild: MUI/D. Bullock

1200 participants from 55 countries
"We always need other people to become who we are. Even a hermit once needed other people in order to become a hermit." So says Stefan Höfer, co-organizer of the European Conference for "Positive Psychology" - also known as the Happiness Conference - which is being held in Innsbruck from Wednesday to Saturday. 1200 participants from 55 countries are taking part. It is the eleventh and largest conference of its kind to date.

Höfer is a health psychologist at the University Clinic in Innsbruck and sees togetherness as a prerequisite for happiness: "The trend to put the ego first - the pursuit of happiness through self-optimization - may be legitimate. However, the most important thing for our existence and therefore also for our happiness is the other person and that is also the challenge."

Who is responsible if a chatbot does not respond appropriately to people in crisis situations?

Stefan Höfer, Gesundheitspsychologe 

Bild: MUI/D. Bullock

Unresolved issues surrounding the use of AI
This challenge will be discussed at the Glückstagung, as will the idea of using artificial intelligence (AI) in psychotherapy. A number of AI tools aim to recreate or even replace an interpersonal relationship. This harbors dangers. "Many questions have not yet been sufficiently clarified, such as the question of responsibility if a chatbot does not respond adequately to people in crisis situations," Höfer points out. Congress participants want to show how AI can still be put to good use.

Innsbruck will also focus on the importance of hope for a positive life. Höfer: "We can't change the past, but we can try to shape the future."