Mysteries and Discoveries at Mila's First Annual Conference

February 9, 2026

two Mila researcher looking at a research poster

Mila's Scientific Director hosted the institute's first-ever annual conference on January 30, 2026, to celebrate the community's accomplishments, break down silos, and explore the most promising areas for the future of AI research.

At the Heart of Research at Mila

From robot guide dogs to prospecting for critical minerals across Canada, the topics illustrated the diversity of AI's fields of application at Mila. The 15-minute presentations focused on a major discovery and a yet unsolved mystery: Can we draw inspiration from the collective intelligence of bees for reinforcement learning? How can AI learn to make decisions under uncertainty? How can AI transform radio signals captured in space into clear images of black holes?

Picture of Ge Li, Applied Research Scientist presenting at Mila on stage

Ge Li, Applied Research Scientist, presented "Canada-wide mineral prospectivity mapping with deep learning" during the conference.

Florian Golemo, a Mila Alumnus, presented a robot guide dog.

Picture of Glen Berseth talking to an audience

Glen Berseth, Core Academic Member, presented "Why does Robotics data improve VLM performance on VQA?" during the conference.

Picture of 2 students looking at a research paper

Students presented their research projects during poster sessions.

Picture of participants in a discussion groups

Participants delved deeper into topics covered during the talks in discussion groups.

Science, Spice, and "Hot Takes"

The conference concluded with a session inspired by the show Hot Ones. Scientific Director Hugo Larochelle and core academic members Mila Blake Richards, Aaron Courville, and Tegan Maharaj braved increasingly spicy sauces while responding to "hot takes" from the community, from their spirit animal to the best city between Montreal and Toronto, to the incessant laughter of a packed room.

This first edition encouraged collaborations and exchanges within the Mila community for the year to come, and the mysteries revealed during the conference will fuel the AI ecosystem of tomorrow.