First AI Colloquium hybrid event was a great success
On 1 February 2023, the AI Colloquium talk was held in a hybrid mode for the first time. Over 100 people attended Luc De Raedt's talk on "Probabilistic Logics and Neuro Symbolic AI" in person and virtually. Afterwards, those who attended the event in person had the opportunity to continue discussing the topic or socializing and meet new people during a networking session with drinks and small snacks.
To strengthen the AI community within RWTH and to showcase top-level international AI research, the RWTH AI Center organised its first hybrid AI Colloquium event on 1 February 2023. Moderator Prof Holger Hoos, board member of the RWTH AI Center, kicked off the event with a brief introduction in the large lecture room in the Computer Science E2 building. Luc De Raedt, director of Leuven.AI (KU Leuven Institute for AI), explained how he integrates logic, neural networks and probability in order to get the best of thinking fast (learning) and thinking slow (reasoning) in AI.
In the Q&A session following the talk experts like Hector Geffner contributed to a lively and interesting discussion which also included questions and comments from the virtual audience.
The talk (without the Q&A session) is available on the AI Center's YouTube channel.
After the official talk, all attendees were welcomed for discussions, exchange, and socializing in the foyer, accompanied with drinks and small snacks. The great mix of the audience (consisting of bachelor and master students, PhDs and post docs, professors and other experts in AI) lead to great conversations: some were discussing the specific topic, others were exchanging experience about doing a PhD, and others again asked advice on careers in AI.
The large number of attendees highlights the interest of RWTH AI community in international state-of-the art AI research. Moreover, it illustrates that the in-person networking events are a great way to interconnect the AI community, and are appreciated, especially after the pandemic.
In future, this type of events will serve as a platform for the RWTH AI community to meet new people and possible collaborators, to exchange ideas, and to build and develop new relationships with people of similar interests. Future events will be advertised on our AI Colloquium web page, on our LinkedIn page, and in our monthly newsletter. If you'd like to receive the newsletter, please follow the instructions on our AI Colloquium web page.