AIAS+ 2026 Symposium Brings Leading Scientists to San Francisco
News related to:Tianqiao and Chrissy Chen Institute · 2 min read
SAN FRANCISCO, Oct. 6, 2026 /CourierPR/ -- The Tianqiao and Chrissy Chen Institute is set to host its third symposium, AIAS+ 2026, in San Francisco from November 5 to 7. The event will bring together leading scientists and AI researchers to explore how artificial intelligence (AI) can accelerate scientific discovery. The symposium will feature newly named 2026 Nobel Laureate Karl Deisseroth, alongside Terence Tao, Jeffrey Ullman, Zhijian "James" Chen, Yejin Choi, Daphne Koller, and other distinguished experts.
AIAS+ 2026 aims to address one of the most pressing questions in scientific research today: how AI can help scientists move beyond analyzing what is already known and accelerate new discovery. The program will include special lectures, plenary talks, panels, and workshops, providing attendees with opportunities to learn from leading researchers, engage in cross-disciplinary conversations, and build new collaborations.
The symposium will also host the 2026 Chen Institute & Science Prize for AI Accelerated Research, recognizing outstanding early-career researchers at the intersection of AI and the natural sciences. This year, the prize will be awarded to Sergey Stavisky, an Associate Professor of Neurological Surgery at UC Davis, for his work advancing AI-powered brain-computer interfaces that translate neural activity into speech, including real-time synthetic speech modeled on a participant's own voice.
Since its founding nearly ten years ago, the Tianqiao and Chrissy Chen Institute has been dedicated to advancing fundamental brain science, accelerating scientific discovery through AI, and improving human well-being. The institute has awarded more than $150 million across research, fellowships, sponsorships, and grants, supported more than 300 students, and organized or sponsored 170 scientific conferences. Its work spans fundamental neuroscience, AI-accelerated research, physician-scientist support, scientific training, and public science communication.
The symposium will cover a wide range of topics, from mathematics and mental health to neuroscience, semiconductors, and computer science. Researchers will examine how AI is changing the research process, from generating hypotheses and identifying patterns to testing ideas, evaluating evidence, and exploring new scientific questions.
The event is open to researchers, students, technologists, industry leaders, and anyone interested in how AI is being used to advance science. Registration is now open for the symposium, which will take place in San Francisco.
The symposium will feature a diverse lineup of participants, including Karl Deisseroth, a 2026 Nobel Laureate in Physiology or Medicine and a Stanford neuroscientist; Terence Tao, a Fields Medalist and Professor of Mathematics at UCLA; Jeffrey Ullman, a Turing Award recipient; Zhijian "James" Chen, a Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences recipient and Professor of Molecular Biology at UT Southwestern; James J. Collins, an MIT synthetic biology pioneer; Daphne Koller, co-founder of Coursera and founder and CEO of insitro; Yejin Choi, a MacArthur Fellow and Stanford AI researcher; Toby Walsh, an AI researcher and leading voice on AI, trust, and society; Kyunghyun Cho, a pioneer in neural machine translation; Sam Rodriques, CEO of FutureHouse; and James Zou, an Associate Professor of Biomedical Data Science at Stanford.
AIAS+ 2026 is open to researchers, students, technologists, industry leaders, and anyone interested in how AI is being used to advance science. Registration is now open for the Nov. 5-7 symposium in San Francisco.