After the success of its first edition, Rockin' AI is coming back!

The bond between Physics and Artificial Intelligence has never been stronger, as underscored by last year's Nobel Prize, awarded to Hinton and Hopfield, whose discoveries were central topics throughout the conference.

Only a few months have passed since our first edition, yet this short time has been enough for major developments to emerge, drastically reshaping our world from political, social, and scientific perspectives.

This rapid progress demands that the scientific community work to explain a wide range of phenomena that lie at the heart of AI’s functioning but remain largely understood only at an empirical level. Despite this, AI's success is so remarkable that it is now embedded in numerous devices, many of which are used daily by most of us. Addressing fundamental theoretical questions and achieving a deeper understanding of the basic building blocks of machine learning models and training algorithms remains crucial.

Given the high-dimensional nature of real-world data and the vast number of tunable parameters in machine learning models, statistical physics and high-dimensional inference provide a natural framework. Since Gardner and Derrida’s seminal works on the perceptron in the 1980s, the interplay between disciplines has led to a wealth of innovative ideas and insights into the functioning of neural networks.

This multidisciplinary conference aims to bring together researchers from statistical physics, mathematical physics, and machine learning. Our goal is to provide diverse perspectives on key topics in contemporary machine learning, including:

• Associative memories, diffusion models, energy-based models.

• Representation learning and structured data modeling.

• Language modeling, self-supervised learning, reasoning, and alternative learning paradigms.

• Mathematical physics approaches to high-dimensional probability, spin glasses, and Boltzmann machines.

• Theoretical aspects of neural networks.

The event will take place from September 1st to 5th, 2025, in Roccella Jonica, Calabria (Italy), an ideal setting for scientific exchange, steps away from a marvelous beach. Alongside the scientific agenda, we will host a social dinner and organize group activities during the free afternoon (more details to come).

📅 Applications:  From March 1st to April 30th, 2025, 23:59 (AoE). 

🎉 Registration is free.

📍 Location: Convento dei Minimi, Largo Molinero, 89047 Roccella Ionica RC.

Confirmed Speakers

Maria Chiara Angelini - Sapienza University of Rome

Luca Biggio - Bocconi University

Giulio Biroli - École Normale Supérieure

Marylou Gabrié - École Normale Supérieure

Andrey Lokhov - Los Alamos National Laboratory

Nicolas Macris - École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne

Enrico Malatesta - Bocconi University

Matteo Marsili - The Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics

Manfred Opper - University of Birmingham

Federico Ricci-Tersenghi - Sapienza University of Rome

Guilhem Semerjian - École Normale Supérieure

Beatriz Seoane - Universidad Complutense de Madrid

Haim Sompolinsky - Harvard University

Pierfrancesco Urbani - Université Paris-Saclay

Francesco Zamponi - Sapienza University of Rome

Jacob Zavatone-Veth - Harvard University