Entrepreneurship Summit 2025: Keynote speech by Prof. Mike Richter

Summary

In his lecture ‘AI for Entrepreneurs – Suggestions for Use’, Prof. Mike Richter shows how artificial intelligence (AI) can be used effectively in everyday business life. He provides practical suggestions on how entrepreneurs can use AI to make their daily work more efficient without neglecting their ethical responsibilities. The focus is on using AI as a tool to support creative and strategic tasks rather than viewing it uncritically or exclusively from a technical perspective. Richter emphasises that AI is not a substitute for entrepreneurial creativity, but a means of complementing and enhancing human skills.

Key insights for founders

1. AI as a practical tool for everyday use
   AI should not only be understood as a technology of the future, but also as a practical aid for specific tasks in everyday entrepreneurship — such as data analysis, idea validation or process optimisation.
   
   
2. Balance between efficiency and ethics
   Developing a responsible approach to AI is key: increasing efficiency and automation must not come at the expense of ethical responsibility.
   
   
3. Human creativity remains crucial
   AI can simplify and accelerate tasks, but it cannot replace human intuition, creativity and entrepreneurial thinking — rather, it can strengthen them.
   
   
4. Seize opportunities offered by AI, don't ignore them
   Entrepreneurs should actively understand and use AI, otherwise they may fall behind competitors who are making targeted use of AI.

About the speaker

Prof. Dr. Mike Richter is President of the German Design Council and Dean of the Design Department at Darmstadt University of Applied Sciences. In the context of entrepreneurship, he is particularly interested in how technology, creativity and ethical responsibility can be combined. In his presentation at the Entrepreneurship Summit 2025 (‘AI for Entrepreneurs – Suggestions for Use’), he offers practical perspectives for entrepreneurs on how artificial intelligence can be used sensibly to facilitate entrepreneurial tasks and make their own work more efficient – without losing sight of fundamental values and responsibility.