International machine learning conference en route to Sydney

An international machine learning conference is set to land in Australia in 2021 following a successful bid by CSIRO’s Data61 and tendering partner BESydney.

In its 35th year, the Annual Conference on Neural Information Processing Systems (NeurIPS) will trek to Sydney for its first event outside the Northern Hemisphere, according to CSIRO.

CSIRO’s Data61 Group Leader, Machine Learning, Dr Richard Nock, said the conference will “bring together thousands of machine learning specialists to share the latest research and discuss key issues including the ethical design and deployment of machine learning, and it is a great opportunity for Australia to be at the centre of this conversation”.

“This past year, our researchers have applied AI and machine learning to assist in diagnosing complex mental health disorders, detect disease outbreaks and ‘vaccinate’ algorithms against adversarial attacks,” Nock added.

The conference is expected to draw attendance from big tech companies, such as Tesla, Google, Microsoft and Facebook, as well as representatives from international universities, and bring opportunities for trade, investment and talent attraction, BESydney CEO, Lyn Lewis Smith and NSW Minister for Jobs, Investment and Tourism, Stuart Ayres said.

Dr Terrence Sejnowski, President of the NeurIPS Foundation, which organises the event, said the conference was “part of our ongoing mission to bolster the global community of AI and machine learning researchers and create opportunities for them to continue to connect in new ways and new places, especially locations like Australia where there is growing interest and investment in this important field of technology.”

This will be the third time the conference has taken place outside North America, after Granada and Barcelona hosted NeurIPS in 2011 and 2016, respectively, CSIRO said.

The conference will take place at the International Convention Centre Sydney in November 2021.

Image credit: ©stock.adobe.com/au/Anton Gvozdikov