For the Public

Girls’ Day 2024

This year, SCIoI is once again delighted to be part of Girls' Day, an event dedicated to offering school-aged girls the opportunity to explore new experiences and gain insights into the realm of STEM related research. This time around, our researchers Palina Bartashevich, Asieh Daneshi, Soledad Traverso, Anna Lange, and David Mezey, with the help

Thursday Morning Talk

Joshua B. Evans, “Creating Multi-Level Skill Hierarchies in Reinforcement Learning”

Abstract: What is a useful skill hierarchy for an autonomous agent? In this talk, we will consider a possible answer based on a graphical representation of how the interaction between an agent and its environment may unfold. The proposed approach uses modularity maximisation as a central organising principle to expose the structure of the interaction

Thursday Morning Talk

Verena Wagner (University of Konstanz), “On Pause: Suspending Judgment and Abstaining in Machine Learning”

Abstract: Machine Learning (ML) systems typically yield definitive outputs, even when the underlying probabilities do not justify a decision. This poses a significant challenge in medical applications, where patients rely on individualized diagnoses, treatments, and prognoses. A recent advancement in ML research addresses this issue by introducing so-called “abstention models,” which enable ML systems to

Distinguished Speaker Series

Asifa Majid (University of Oxford), “Establishing Human Universals”

Abstract: Psychology, the "science of mental life", aims to provide models and theories that apply universally. However, there is a growing concern that what we gather from studying humans in a particular place and time might not accurately reflect how humans behave in other contexts. This talk will consider how we can establish whether something

Hot Topics in Intelligence Research

Iain Couzin (Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior & University of Konstanz), “Collective intelligence in animals and robots”

Abstract In 1905 the biologist Edmund Selous wrote of his wonderment when observing a flock of starlings flying overhead “they circle; now dense like a polished roof, now disseminated like the meshes of some vast all-heaven-sweeping net...wheeling, rending, darting...a madness in the sky”. He went on to speculate “They must think collectively, all at the

Hot Topics in Intelligence Research

Christof Koch (Allen Institute for Brain Sciences), “Integrated Information Theory – Or Why Consciousness is Fundamentally Distinct from Intelligence”

MAR 2.057

Humans not only can act intelligently in the world but consciously experience it, such as the delectable taste of Nutella, the sharp sting of an infected tooth, or the terror and ecstasy of a near-death experience. I will discuss progress achieved in tracking the footprints of conscious experiences to the posterior regions of the cerebral cortex,

Hot Topics in Intelligence Research

Oren Forkosh (The Hebrew University of Jerusalem), ” Behavior, Personality, Social Structure, and Emotions in Freely Behaving Groups of Mice and Other Animals”

MAR 2.057

Abstract: In recent years, the study of animal behavior in neuroscience has seen a significant shift towards more naturalistic and less intrusive methods. It is under these conditions that the true spectrum of animal behavior can be exhibited, free from the artificial constraints and stressful conditions often imposed by traditional laboratory settings. In this talk, I will focus