2024 BRAIN NeuroAI Workshop

About this Class

Join us at the upcoming hybrid NIH BRAIN NeuroAI Workshop on November 12 and 13, with virtual access to in-person panels and discussions at the NIH Campus in Bethesda, MD.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is reshaping technology across neuroscience, health, and computing. As the potential benefits and limitations of AI become clear, the mission to understand the brain and accelerate cures is converging with interdisciplinary efforts to disentangle fundamental principles of intelligence in brains and AI. The NIH Brain Research Through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies^® (BRAIN) Initiative is poised to leverage its wealth of data and tools to advance new theories and catalyze emerging NeuroAI research directions at the intersection of neuroscience and AI. 

This two-day hybrid workshop will bring together early-career researchers and leading neuroscientists, theorists, and engineers to broadly discuss promising NeuroAI research approaches, including those from related fields such as embodied cognition, physical intelligence, and neuromorphic engineering. In addition to current data-driven NeuroAI approaches, future NeuroAI research may benefit from methods and models that address the role of embodiment and behavior, including how both living organisms and artificial agents can learn efficiently and effectively from environmental feedback grounded in physical interaction.

The BRAIN Initiative seeks diverse scientific and technological perspectives about how NeuroAI research can establish shared fundamental principles, develop theoretical frameworks, and coordinate interdisciplinary approaches to advance our understanding of natural intelligence, resilience, adaptability, and energy-efficiency in the brains of humans and other animals. 

Across two days, the workshop will feature four scientific panel sessions diving into critical questions including: what can be learned from the similarities and differences between natural intelligence and AI; how metrics and benchmarks can be designed to effectively compare AI models to brains; and why neuromorphic engineering approaches, bio-inspired robotics, and principles of physical intelligence may be important tools for accelerating the potentially transformative health impact of NeuroAI research.

To illuminate the landscape of NeuroAI funding opportunities, the Funders Panel on the first day of the workshop, November 12, will feature representatives from agencies and foundations including the NIH, the National Science Foundation, the Department of Energy, the Department of Defense, and the Simons Foundation. To showcase innovative work from rising NeuroAI talents, the second day of the workshop, November 13, will feature the BRAIN NeuroAI Early-Career Scholars Poster Blitz and Poster Session.

The BRAIN Initiative welcomes participants at all career stages from academic, industry, and government laboratories and research organizations; funding agency staff; representatives of foundations and advocacy groups; and science journalists, clinicians, and interested members of the public. Discussions and collaborations fostered during this event will identify prospects for novel NeuroAI research and reveal promising approaches, priorities, and opportunities in this exciting field.

for virtual attendance! Virtual participants will be able to watch all sessions except the in-person poster session, and be able to submit questions to the moderated Q&A for the in-person panel discussions. Visit the workshop website for more information, including the agenda, speakers, and organizers. Please send any event inquiries to BRAINNeuroAIWorkshop@ninds.nih.gov.