BLISS AI Speaker Series 2026/2027

We are excited to feature Badr Alkhamissi, who is currently a PhD Student at École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne and will discuss "Human-Like Artificial Intelligence", lasting approximately 45 minutes. After the talk, seize the opportunity to connect with fellow AI enthusiasts to share ideas and questions while enjoying free drinks and pizza. Door close by 7.15pm, so please come early! Also, "attend"ing (RSVP) here on Meetup is strictly necessary to be guaranteed entry.

Who is this event for?
This event is open to everyone interested in state-of-the-art AI research. We especially design it for students, PhD candidates, academic researchers, and industry professionals with a research focus in machine learning.

Abstract:
Large language models, the AI systems behind today’s chatbots, were never designed to resemble the human brain. Yet the parallels run surprisingly deep. In this talk, I will walk you through our recent work on how artificial and natural intelligence relate, guided by three questions: How similar are AI models to the human brain? What makes a model brain-like? And what does it take to model not just language, but also higher-cognition and the whole brain? We will see how switching off the ‘language network’ of an AI model breaks its language abilities, how a model that reads can be made dyslexic, and how a model laid out like the brain’s surface led us to discover new brain regions. Together, these results show how AI can become a tool for understanding the brain, and how the brain can guide the design of more interpretable AI.

Bio:
Badr AlKhamissi is a PhD candidate at EPFL in Switzerland, working at the intersection of AI and neuroscience. He builds AI models inspired by how the human brain is organized, making them more transparent and easier to control, and studies how AI can help us understand human cognition. His papers have been featured at leading AI conferences and covered by the international press. He has also done research at Google DeepMind, Meta AI and Sony AI, and holds degrees from Goldsmiths, University of London, and the American University in Cairo.

We are excited to feature Jonas Geiping, who is currently a Research Group Leader at Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems and will discuss "Safety and Security of LLM Reasoning", lasting approximately 45 minutes. After the talk, seize the opportunity to connect with fellow AI enthusiasts to share ideas and questions while enjoying free drinks and pizza. Door close by 7.15pm, so please come early! Also, "attend"ing (RSVP) here on Meetup is strictly necessary to be guaranteed entry.

Who is this event for?
This event is open to everyone interested in state-of-the-art AI research. We especially design it for students, PhD candidates, academic researchers, and industry professionals with a research focus in machine learning.

We are excited to feature Jonathan Schwarz, who is currently a Visiting Professor at Imperial College London and will discuss "Sovereign AI from a Perspective of Model Building and AI Governance", lasting approximately 45 minutes. After the talk, seize the opportunity to connect with fellow AI enthusiasts to share ideas and questions while enjoying free drinks and pizza. Door close by 7.15pm, so please come early! Also, "attend"ing (RSVP) here on Meetup is strictly necessary to be guaranteed entry.

Who is this event for?
This event is open to everyone interested in state-of-the-art AI research. We especially design it for students, PhD candidates, academic researchers, and industry professionals with a research focus in machine learning.

We are excited to feature Ida Momennejad, who is currently a Principal Researcher at Microsoft and will discuss "Algorithmic Geometry of Flexible Cognition in Brains and AI", lasting approximately 45 minutes. After the talk, seize the opportunity to connect with fellow AI enthusiasts to share ideas and questions while enjoying free drinks and pizza. Door close by 7.15pm, so please come early! Also, "attend"ing (RSVP) here on Meetup is strictly necessary to be guaranteed entry.

Who is this event for?
This event is open to everyone interested in state-of-the-art AI research. We especially design it for students, PhD candidates, academic researchers, and industry professionals with a research focus in machine learning.