Prof. Dr. Sonja Zillner

Career

Prof. Dr. Sonja Zillner is the Principal for Industrial Trustworthy Artificial Intelligence at Siemens Foundational Technology. Since 2020, she has been the Head of the Core Company Technology Module "Trustworthy AI" at Siemens AG, and since 2023, she has been leading the design, development, and implementation of the Generative AI Risk Management Process for Siemens industrial products.

Prior to her current roles, from 2016 to 2019, Prof. Zillner was invited to consult the Siemens Advisory Board on strategic decisions regarding artificial intelligence. She was the chief editor of the Strategic Research Innovation and Deployment Agenda of the new Partnership in AI, Data and Robotics, and the leading editor of the Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda of the Big Data Value Association (BDVA).

Prof. Zillner studied mathematics and psychology at the Albert-Ludwig-University in Freiburg and earned her Ph.D. in computer science, specializing in symbolic AI, at the Technical University of Vienna. She was a visiting professor at the Technical University of Berlin from 2017 to 2018 and a professor at Steinbeis University in Berlin from 2012 to 2018. Since 2021, she has been an honorary professor at the Technical University of Munich.

Prof. Zillner is the author of more than 90 publications and more than 25 patents in the areas of semantics, artificial intelligence, and data-driven innovation.

Functions

She currently holds the following positions:

• Head of Trustworthy AI, Siemens AG, Foundational Technologies
• Head of Generative AI Risk Management for Siemens Products, Siemens AG, Foundational Technologies
• Principal Industrial Trustworthy AI, Siemens AG, Foundational Technologies
• Member of the Scientific Advisory Board of the Technical TIB Leibniz Information Center for Science & Technology
• Co-Lead of AI Taskforce in the Charter of Trust Alliance