# From Tool to Actor, ZBW Kiel

> Markdown version of https://dtrautwein.eu/blog/zbw-vom-werkzeug-zum-akteur/

Published 27 October 2026. Tags: talks, ai-agents.

On 27 October I gave a short talk, "Agentische Kommunikation" ("Agentic Communication"), at [Vom Werkzeug zum Akteur](https://www.zbw.eu/de/ueber-uns/veranstaltungen/vom-werkzeug-zum-akteur-ki-agenten-und-ihre-folgen-fuer-wirtschaft-recht-und-gesellschaft) ("From tool to actor"), an evening in Kiel about AI agents and what they mean for the economy, law and society. 

Four other speakers (Sina Lücke, Dr. Miriam Maibaum, Mansoor Koshan and Dr. Steffen Brandt) and I each brought theses, for example "A free agent does not work for you" and "We do not have to understand agents to trust them, but we must hold them liable". Three guests then discussed them on the panel: [Judith Simon](https://www.inf.uni-hamburg.de/en/inst/ab/eit/team/simon.html), professor of ethics in information technology at the [Universität Hamburg](https://www.uni-hamburg.de), [Dirk Schrödter](https://www.schleswig-holstein.de/DE/landesregierung/ministerien-behoerden/I/Presse/Staatskanzlei/CdS_Staatssekretaere/cds_node), Schleswig-Holstein's minister for digitalisation and head of the [State Chancellery](https://www.schleswig-holstein.de/DE/landesregierung/ministerien-behoerden/I/Presse/Staatskanzlei), and [Isabella Peters](https://www.zbw.eu/en/about-us/staff-profiles/profile-professor-isabella-peters), professor of web science at the [ZBW](https://www.zbw.eu) and Kiel University.

Two questions ran through the evening: in whose interest does an agent act, and who is responsible when it decides? Nobody had a finished answer yet. The event came from opencampus.sh, the Kiel Institute for the World Economy and the ZBW.

![Four people on a stage in front of a projected title slide, "Vom Werkzeug zum Akteur"](media/2026/zbw-vom-werkzeug-zum-akteur/panel.jpg "The panel. Photo: S. Küper")

![Dennis Trautwein speaking in front of a slide with "~1200 Agenten" and "70.000 Nachrichten"](media/2026/zbw-vom-werkzeug-zum-akteur/talk.jpg "My talk. Photo: S. Küper")