Dear AI enthusiasts,

You are cordially invited to our exciting event “Big Models, Big Impact? Machine Learning in the Age of Large Language and Foundation Models” on Saturday, August 15, 2026 at 5:45 pm at the Rotunde (Cartesium building).

As Large Language Models (LLMs) and foundation models drastically reshape Machine Learning, they push boundaries in various research areas including natural language processing, generative AI, and multimodal reasoning. We are thrilled to welcome Haizhou Li and Jürgen Schmidhuber, two leading experts in the field who will explore the current state of LLMs and foundation models, examine their transformative impact on Artificial Intelligence, and discuss emerging challenges in their talks.

Admission is free.
Abstracts of the talks are below.
To help us plan the venue, we kindly ask you to register in advance at: https://eveeno.com/245736157

We are looking forward to meeting you at the event!

Haizhou Li

LLM Innovation with Chinese Characteristics

This talk examines the strategic and technical path China’s large language model (LLM) industry is forging under unique constraints, including chip sanctions and blockade of access by closed source LLMs. It is believed that these constraints have catalyzed a distinctive innovation model, shifting the focus from brute-force scaling and to an approach centered on efficiency, open-source, and application. We will also discuss the public acceptance of AI in China. China’s LLM strategy offers a compelling alternative innovation paradigm where strategic constraints can foster creativity.

Jürgen Schmidhuber

The Neural World Model Boom

The concept of a mental model of the world—a world model—dates back millennia. Plato suggested that we recognize objects by recollecting internal blueprints or templates, today often called internal representations. Aristotle wrote that phantasia or mental images allow humans to imagine the future and to plan action sequences by mentally manipulating images in the absence of the actual objects. Only 2,370 years later—a mere blink of an eye by cosmical standards—we are witnessing a boom in world models based on deep artificial neural networks for artificial intelligence in the physical world. New startups on this are emerging. To explain what's going on, I'll take you on a little journey through the history of general purpose neural world models since 1990. Then we'll take a look at the future of this field.