News from TF members

UC celebrates partnership with Thales

https://www.uc.edu/news/articles/2026/04/university-of-cincinnati-celebrates-partnership-with-thales.html

On April 13, 2026, UC officially unveiled a new collaborative workspace at our Digital Futures facility for Thales, sponsor of our NAFIPS 2026 conference,  a global leader in defense and aeronautics. The collaboration focuses on advances in trustworthy AI and air mobility, and is deeply rooted in Genetic Fuzzy Tree (GFT) technology developed here at UC. This development carries real significance for our global fuzzy logic community for several reasons:

• It represents one of the most prominent industrial deployments of fuzzy-logic-based AI in mission- and safety-critical aerospace applications to date which is a domain where explainability and certifiability are not optional, but required.

• Thales’s TrUE AI (Transparent, Understandable, Ethical) Toolkit that is built on GFT foundations developed by UC alumnus Dr. Nick Ernest, President Elect of NAFIPS,  is now being advanced through a formal academic-industry partnership, creating a direct bridge between fuzzy logic research and commercial aerospace deployment.

• The co-location of Thales researchers within UC’s Digital Futures, the same venue which hosted NAFIPS 2023 conference, facility creates a living laboratory where the next generation of fuzzy AI researchers will work alongside industry practitioners, a model that could inspire similar arrangements globally.

• At a time when the broader AI community is grappling with black-box opacity and certification barriers, this partnership is a concrete, high-profile demonstration that fuzzy logic offers a credible and deployable path to certifiable AI.