Curriculum

The Program on AI and Reasoning (PAIR) is an immersive workshop for mathematically talented students with an interest in how reasoning and minds work, in systems both artificial and natural. The workshop aims to provide participants with an in-depth understanding of how current AI systems work, mathematical theories about cognition and human minds, and how the two relate. Part of the content is experimental and experiential, comparing the theories to experiments and experiences. Additionally, the workshop teaches thinking and meta-cognitive tools related to creativity, motivation, collaboration, and ability to drive and lead independent inquiry.

The content includes deeper theoretical grounds such as information theory, optimization, Bayesian reasoning. Building on the theoretical foundations, on the AI side, we cover some SOTA (state of the art) systems like GPTs and architectures like transformers. On the side of understanding our own human minds, we cover theories originating from neuroscience, such as predictive processing. We explore some of the parallels between the artificial and natural, and also cover some of the ethical and safety aspects of the relations between AI and humans.

Alumni of the camp should be in a better position to think about AI independently, understand state-of-art research, and come up with their own research ideas.