Kurpfalz News
Laureate Forum 2025
Jeffrey A. Dean guest at Kurpfalz Internat
On Wednesday, September 17, 2025, one of the most influential computer scientists of our time visited us as part of the Heidelberg Laureate Forum: Google Chief Scientist and ACM award winner Jeffrey A. Dean. Even though his name may not sound as familiar as “Google” or “Artificial Intelligence,” he is one of the people who laid the foundations in the background that allow us to use search engines, translation services, cloud services, or AI applications with such ease today.
Jeff Dean was born in 1968 in Hawaii and has been with Google since its early years. Since 2018, he has been leading the company’s AI division and became Chief Scientist in 2023 when the two major research areas, Google Brain and DeepMind, were merged. His current projects include, among others, the further development of Gemini – especially an AI with the wonderfully quirky name “Nano Banana.”
Within Google, Dean enjoys cult status: colleagues have even playfully invented “Jeff Dean facts” that exaggerate his abilities in almost superhuman ways. An example: “When Graham Bell invented the telephone, he saw a missed call from Jeff Dean.”
At our Kurpfalz boarding school, Dean took the time for a roughly 60-minute lecture followed by a discussion on the topic of “Artificial Intelligence.” For our students, it was a rare opportunity to meet one of the world’s leading figures in computer science in person.
The young people listened intently to the clear and exciting presentation. Afterwards, they asked many interested questions – for example: “Do you really consider works of art created by AI to be art?” His astonishingly simple answer: “Sure!”, followed by a nuanced explanation. Another question was: “Will an AI eventually dominate us?” Dean replied that while AI is indeed superior to humans in some areas, ultimately, it is always a human at the wheel, or rather, writing the prompt.
A particularly striking scene unfolded after the lecture: As the drivers and companions of the Laureate Forum got into the car, Jeff Dean put on his sports outfit – and simply jogged back to Heidelberg.
Contact us or request a brochure
Would you like to find out more? Contact us now or request our free brochure.