Speaker: Annika Reinke, DKFZ/Helmholtz Imaging
Date: 19.02.2026, 11:00 am
Title: When AI Performance Misleads: From Success in Papers to Failure in Practice
Abstract:
Despite impressive performance in publications, many AI models fail when deployed in real-world settings. One important reason is poor or misleading validation.
This talk explores common pitfalls in validating AI systems, especially the misuse of performance metrics, and shows how they can create false confidence. Practical recommendations will be offered to guide more robust and trustworthy validation practices, aimed at supporting the safe and effective integration of AI into real-world workflows.
Annika Reinke
Annika Reinke earned her PhD degree in 2023, focusing on eliminating flaws in biomedical image analysis validation. She continues her work as a postdoctoral researcher and deputy head by addressing underrepresented societally relevant topics, particularly scientific benchmarking and validation.
Leading the "Validation of Intelligent Systems" group, Dr. Reinke aims to enhance the quality of validation pipelines for biomedical AI algorithms. She holds influential positions in various international groups, including the secretary of the MICCAI Special Interest Group on biomedical challenges and the chair of the MONAI Working Group on Evaluation and Benchmarking.
