AI for the Accelerated Science, downtown
The Chen Institute’s AI for the Accelerated Science symposium in San Francisco, October 2025.
Read More AI for the Accelerated Science, downtownCategory: Travels
Conference notes, workshop write-ups and field observations. Each post pins to the map.
NeSy25 in Santa Cruz, and a Mario Kart run over HWY17
September 2025, NeSy25 in Santa Cruz, where the whole emphasis was on making models reason and then show their work. I also took HWY17 over to the Imagination in Action event at Moffet Place, and missed Neal Stephenson for my trouble.
Read More NeSy25 in Santa Cruz, and a Mario Kart run over HWY17Gonzo in the Valley of Heart’s Delight
Astro Teller on why imperative projects do worse with arbitrary resources, a lightning talk on predicting preterm birth, and a panel that sent me looking at Norse mythology. Sunnyvale, September 2025.
Read More Gonzo in the Valley of Heart’s DelightOpen25 at the Venetian, and demand manufactured out of nothing
The last leg of my summer trip was Vegas for Open25, eBay’s thirtieth, at the Venetian. Influencer selling by cohort, a leak in the WC that got me an executive suite, and a sphere everybody else wants a room facing.
Read More Open25 at the Venetian, and demand manufactured out of nothingTwo Tracks in the House That Halmos Built
A conference split cleanly into Quantum for AI and AI for Quantum, plus an NVIDIA roadshow aimed squarely at midwestern researchers. Indiana University Bloomington, 2025.
Read More Two Tracks in the House That Halmos BuiltEd Chi on machine dreaming, and a vibe shift at Berkeley
August 2025, the Agentic AI Summit at UC Berkeley, the middle stop of nine days and three towns. A sidebar with Ed H. Chi of Google DeepMind on why models dream, the inductive-deductive divide, and why both sectors got to the same idea at the same time.
Read More Ed Chi on machine dreaming, and a vibe shift at BerkeleyThe Trillion Parameter Consortium, and a Vibe Shift
National-lab researchers working out how AI might not just assist large-scale physical science but autonomously conduct it. Santa Clara, July 2025, the first of three towns in nine days.
Read More The Trillion Parameter Consortium, and a Vibe ShiftWhere the valley trips actually happened
The conferences were in Santa Clara and San Jose. Cupertino is where I slept, and where a good deal of the useful conversation took place. A deliberately thin pin, for now.
Read More Where the valley trips actually happenedValue over hype in the foothills of the western Carolinas
From Nashville to Asheville for a workshop on AI strategy and production, chasing the nuts and bolts work that turns great models into real margin. Also MCP, hurricane footprints, and a town quirkier than I expected.
Read More Value over hype in the foothills of the western CarolinasMotor City to Music City, and the hat they ran out of
June 2025, CVPR in Nashville. I came in with a list of workshops and ended up filing from the floor: fal out of GPU Rich hats, Lambda’s consumer boxes, a LIDAR bolt-on kit at the Latitude AI booth, and one evaluation that did not go the way I expected.
Read More Motor City to Music City, and the hat they ran out of