The NSF AI Institute for Artificial Intelligence and Fundamental Interactions (IAIFI)
The NSF AI Institute for Artificial Intelligence and Fundamental Interactions (IAIFI, pronounced /aɪ-faɪ/) is one of the inaugural NSF AI research institutes. The IAIFI is advancing physics knowledge – from the smallest building blocks of nature to the largest structures in the Universe – and galvanizing AI research innovation. The IAIFI is a collaboration of both physics and AI researchers at MIT, Harvard, Northeastern, and Tufts. Learn more about our research at the Physics/AI intersection and about our IAIFI Fellows program.
IAIFI Jobs
Applications are now open for the 2025–2028 IAIFI Fellowship search. Apply to be an IAIFI Fellow by October 9, 2024.
IAIFI Events
View our full events calendar for all upcoming events.
Our IAIFI Colloquium series will continue with Yuan-Sen Ting on Friday, November 22, 2024. Recordings of our previous colloquium talks are available to view on our YouTube channel.
IAIFI News
For an archive of IAIFI news, see our news page. To receive periodic announcements about IAIFI-related activities, sign up for our mailing list and follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn.
IAIFI Director Jesse Thaler featured in Physics Today. Read about his discussion with other leaders in industry, government, and academia regarding the potential impact of AI on phsyics, and of physics on AI, in “Physics, AI, and the future of discovery”. November 1, 2024
IAIFI Junior Investigator Ziming Liu and Senior Investigator Max Tegmark featured in Quanta Magazine. Read about their work on KANs in “Novel Architecture Makes Neural Networks More Understandable”. September 11, 2024
IAIFI Investigator Isaac Chuang and IAIFI Alumnus Curtis Northcutt awarded the 2024 IJCAI-JAIR best paper prize. Read “Confident Learning: Estimating Uncertainty in Dataset Labels”. August 2024
DUNE scientists, including IAIFI Fellow Jessie Micallef, observe first neutrinos with prototype detector at Fermilab. Learn more. August 12, 2024
IAIFI Investigator Tracy Slatyer honored as “Committed to Caring” by MIT. Read “Paying it Forward” to learn about their approach to prioritizing students’ educational journeys. June 6, 2024
IAIFI Junior Investigator Owen Dugan awarded 2024 Hertz Foundation Fellowship. Read “Ten with MIT connections win 2024 Hertz Foundation Fellowships”. June 3, 2024
IAIFI Investigator Carlos Argüelles-Delgado named a CIFAR Azrieli Global Scholar. Learn more about the 2024–2026 cohort.. May 29, 2024
IAIFI Director Jesse Thaler featured on NSF CISE Newsletter. Read “NSF CISE Newsletter”. May 23, 2024
IAIFI Director Jesse Thaler and IAIFI Investigators Phiala Shanahan and Jim Halverson featured in Symmetry Magazine. Read “Machine learning and theory”. April 30, 2024
IAIFI Director Jesse Thaler provides insight on the importance of critical thinking as a panelist at MIT’s Festival of Learning 2024. Read “MIT faculty, instructors, students experiment with generative AI in teaching and learning”. April 29, 2024
IAIFI Investigator Tracy Slatyer awarded 2024 Guggenheim Fellowship. Read “Three from MIT awarded 2024 Guggenheim Fellowships”. April 26, 2024
IAIFI Fellow Jessie Micallef featured in Symmetry Magazine. Read about their work on “Machine Learning and Experiment”. April 25, 2024
IAIFI Senior Investigator Fabian Ruehle and incoming Fellow Thomas Harvey featured in Quanta Magazine. Read about their work on how “AI Starts to Sift Through String Theory’s Near-Endless Possibilities”. April 23, 2024
IAIFI Investigator William Freeman co-authored a textbook on Computer Vision published by MIT Press, with Antonio Torralba and Philip Isola. Learn More “Foundations of Computer Vision”. April 16, 2024
IAIFI Affiliate Dan Roberts named to AI-MO prize advisory committee. Learn about the [Artificial Intelligence Mathematical Olympiad[https://aimoprize.com], which will be held in July 2024. February 7, 2024
IAIFI Affiliate Dan Roberts writes about about using physics to understand AI risk. Read “Black Holes and the Intelligence Explosion”. December 12, 2023
IAIFI Fellow Siddharth Mishra-Sharma named one of the 2023 Rising Stars in Data Science by the University of Chicago. Read more about Siddharth’s recognition. November 30, 2023
IAIFI Fellow Ge Yang and collaborators receive Best Paper Award at the Conference on Robot Learning (CoRL) 2023. Read “Distilled Feature Fields Enable Few-Shot Manipulation”. November 14, 2023
IAIFI Investigators Max Tegmark and Ziming Liu featured with collaborators in Quanta Magazine. Read about their work on “The Physical Process That Powers a New Type of Generative AI”. November 14, 2023
Carlos Arguelles-Delgado, Harvard Assistant Professor of Physics and IAIFI Senior Investigator, named 2023 Packard Fellow. Read more about Carlos’ research and the award. October 20, 2023
On September 18-19, 2023, Jesse Thaler, Mike Williams, and Marisa LaFleur visited the NSF and Congress, along with other NSF AI Institutes, as part of the NSF AI Hill Day, where Jesse and Mike met congressional staffers to share the work of IAIFI and discuss the importance of AI for Science. October 5, 2023
On July 21, 2023, many IAIFI Senior Investigators, Fellows, postdocs, and students presented at The Impact of ChatGPT and other Large Language Models on Physics Research and Education. Watch Workshop recordings. September 19, 2023
Max Tegmark, MIT Professor of Physics and IAIFI Senior Investigator, featured on the TIME100 Most Influential People in AI. Read Max’s feature. September 7, 2023
Nabil Laoudji writes about his experience at the 2023 IAIFI Summer Worskhop. Read Nabil’s post on LinkedIn, where he shares his experience attending the 2023 IAIFI Summer Workshop. August 29, 2023
Philip Harris, MIT Assistant Professor and IAIFI Senior Investigator, earns MIT Teaching With Digital Technology Award: The student-nominated award recognizes Phil for effectively using digital technology to improve teaching and learning at MIT. Read about the 2023 winners. June 21, 2023
Marisa LaFleur, IAIFI Project Manager, awarded MIT Infinite Mile Award: The award recognizes Marisa’s dedication and contribution to the School of Science and to IAIFI. Read about the 2023 winners. May 15, 2023
Justin Solomon, MIT Associate Professor and IAIFI Affiliate, named Edgerton Award winner: The award recognizes Justin’s exceptional distinction in teaching, research, and service at MIT. Read MIT Newsletter profile on Justin Solomon. April 19, 2023
Brian Nord, MLK Scholar and IAIFI Visitor, featured in MIT News: Read “Understanding our place in the universe”. April, 12, 2023
Pulkit Agrawal featured in MIT News: IAIFI Senior Investigator Pulkit Agrawal, and collaborators Gabriel Margolis and Yandong Ji have developed a legged robotic system that can dribble a soccer ball under the same conditions as humans. “Our goal in developing algorithms for legged robots is to provide autonomy in challenging and complex terrains that are currently beyond the reach of robotic systems.” April 3, 2023
Brian Nord, MLK Scholar, interviewed for MIT’s Institute Community & Equity Office: Watch Brian discuss Artificial Intelligence and social advocacy. February, 8, 2023
Lina Necib recognized as a rising star in astronomy by Astronomy magazine: Read Astronomy magazine’s profile on Lina Necib as part of their rising stars in astronomy issue. January, 3, 2023
IAIFI sponsors the Machine Learning and the Physical Sciences workshop: IAIFI was pleased to sponsor the Machine Learning and the Physical Sciences workshop at NeurIPS 2022 and to see many IAIFI researchers present papers. View papers from IAIFI researchers at the workshop. December 3, 2022
Jesse Thaler provides insight on the potential of AI for physics discovery: Read “Will artificial intelligence ever discover new laws of physics?” November 21, 2022