The Social Artificial Intelligence Night (SAINT) of the Department of Computer Science & Security is an important meeting point for scientists, industry partners, and enthusiasts in the field of artificial intelligence in Austria to exchange information about the latest advancements and projects.

SAINT 2026 | Beyond the Paper: Real-World AI in Action

Under the motto "Beyond the Paper: Real-World AI in Action”, this year’s Social Artificial Intelligence Night (SAINT) at USTP – University of Applied Sciences St. Pölten showed how artificial intelligence finds its way from research into real-world applications. The symposium of the Department of Computer Science & Security brought representatives of science and industry as well as AI enthusiasts together to discuss current projects, possible practical applications, and societal questions in the context of AI. The SAINT offers an important platform for exchange between research, business, and the AI community in Austria.

Small Model, Big Impact: The New Era of Efficient AI

One highlight of this year’s SAINT was the keynote by Loubna Ben Allal, Machine Learning Engineer at Hugging Face, the leading platform for the free exchange of AI language models. In her presentation of “SmoILM Training Playbook“, she provided fascinating insights into the latest developments in the efficient training of large language models (LLMs) and shared exclusive findings from the conception and training of “SmolLM3” – a compact, resource-saving language model that allows for high-performance AI applications despite its small size.

Focus on Efficient and Transparent AI Solutions that Conform to the Law

The varied programme provided insights into the diverse fields of application for artificial intelligence: from automated product identification in food production through specialised AI models offering legal security and supporting digital sovereignty to systems that actually understand the reasons for their results rather than just make predictions. Moreover, it was demonstrated how AI can automatically be designed in a way that conforms to the law by translating regulations such as the EU AI Act and the GDPR into clear rules.

Click here for the press release.

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