Thomas Thiele

Thomas Thiele is a Principal in the Innovation Practice of the management consultancy Arthur D. Little. He is responsible for the AI Competence Center in Central Europe.

His main areas of activity include digital transformation projects combining strategy development and business implementation as well as Machine Learning and AI in real world applications – especially in the context of industrial production (in the automotive and process industry) and mobility. He also works on implementation strategies and further development of new technologies (e.g. quantum computing) for numerous companies in the production, energy and mobility sectors.

Prior to Arthur D. Little, Thomas was Chief AI Officer of Deutsche Bahn AG and headed the development and implementation of AI-relevant topics in the entire group. Focus of his work was the strategic introduction of AI applications, taking into account people, organization and technology. Together with his teams, he developed inter alia methods for the use of reinforcement learning in train dispatching and large-scale image recognition in maintenance. He gained further leadership experience as Research Group Leader for Production Technology at RWTH Aachen University and managing director of VDI Aachen association.

The German Bundestag invited him as an expert for the national AI strategy and is Co-Founder of complAIzer – a startup focusing on AI technology in compliance. He holds a doctorate in Machine Learning (summa cum laude) and a diploma in Mechanical Engineering and is (co-)author of more than 35 publications in the context of digitalization and AI development.