BAI (Institute for AI and Beyond, The University of Tokyo) held a symposium entitled "Function and Future of Cultured Neurons - Emerging Functionality of Cultured Neurons" on March 2 at SHIBUYA QWS Scramble Hall. A BAI researcher Yoshiho Ikeuchi (IIS, UTokyo) organized the event.

This symposium aimed to facilitate research discussions and knowledge sharing on neurons (nerve cells) cultured in vitro, attracting experts from various fields such as organoids, AI, microcircuit construction, robotics, rehabilitation, and design from around the world. Participants engaged in discussions involving attendees.

The opening remarks were given by the BAI director Masami Hagiya. In the first half of the event, lectures on the construction of neural tissues and circuits were given by Yoshiho Ikeuchi (Associate Professor, IIS and BAI), Hideya Sakaguchi (Research Leader, RIKEN), Hideaki Yamamoto (Associate Professor, Tohoku University), and Jordi Soriano (Associate Professor, University of Barcelona), followed by a panel discussion.
In the second half, lectures on the functionality and application of neurons were given by Urs Frey and Marie Obien (MaxWell Biosystems), Brett Kagan (Cortical Labs), Michela Chiappalone (Associate Professor, University of Genoa), Timothee Levi (Professor, University of Bordeaux), and Miles Pennington (Professor, IIS and BAI UTokyo), followed by a panel discussion.
Numerous questions were raised through Slido from the audience, leading to a lively interaction during the panel discussions.

Thanks to the geographical convenience of Shibuya, the event venue was filled with about 150 attendees with diverse background.
During the networking session following the presentations, active discussions and exchanges regarding cultured neurons took place. This event successfully contributed in expansion of the community around the research.

A meeting for researchers in the Presentation Room at S building of IIS was held on the previous day, March 1.

The events were supported by IIS-CREMeB, UTokyo FSI, SHIBUTA QWS, Foundation for the Promotion of Industrial Science RC-110.

■ Date: 2 Marh (Saturday) 2024. 14:00-18:00 (JST)
■ Venue: SHIBUYA QWS Shibuya Scramble Square (East Building) 15th floor
https://shibuya-qws.com/en/about/outline
■ Language: English and Japanese (Simultaneous interpretation provided)
■ Organizer:
・IKEUCHI Yoshiho Lab., IIS（Institute of Industrial Science, The University of Tokyo)
・BAI (Institute for AI and Beyond, The University of Tokyo)I

■ Speakers
・Michella Chiappalone （Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, Genoa)
・Urs Frey & Marie Obien (Maxwell Biosystems)
・Brett Kagan (Cortical Labs)
・Timothée Levi (Université Bordeaux)
・Miles Pennington (The University of Tokyo)
・Jordi Soriano (University of Barcelona)
・Hideya Sakaguchi (RIKEN)
・Hideaki Yamamoto (Tohoku University)
・Yoshiho Ikeuchi (The University of Tokyo) 【Organaizer】

2023 AI and Data Hackathon Pre-event

■ Date & Time：Dec. 6 (Wed.) 18:45~20:30
■ Venue：UT Hongo Campus & Online (by Zoom)
■ Language：Japanese
■ Target：Undergraduate and graduate students (excluding students in doctoral programs) of the University of Tokyo
■ Registration: Pre-registration required.
Please register using the URL below
https://forms.office.com/r/0dFPHxLwtB
■URL：https://www.u-tokyo.ac.jp/ja/students/special-activities/ugip.html

A video recording of the event "How do we live with AI?", celebrating the publication of the book “Understanding AI in Society: How Technology Exerts Power” on July 28th, organized by by the B'AI Global Forum is now available.
The event was held in Japanese.

The contents of the book was introduced through reports by the authors and discussions with commentators, as well as to discuss AI technology critically from multiple perspectives at the event.

About the book （Japanese only)
https://www.utp.or.jp/book/b10026693.html

B’AI Global Forum Official Website
https://baiforum.jp/en/

Special Seminar was held on July 21st, 2023.
Title: Toward Dense 3D Reconstruction in the Wild
Speaker: Jia Deng / Princeton University / Associate Professor

For more details please refer to the webpage of the Professor Tatsuya Harada's laboratory
https://www.mi.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp/blog/event/visit-of-prof-jia-deng/

Special Seminar was held on July 14th, 2023.
Title: Neural Polytopes
Speaker: Koji Hashimoto / Graduate School of Science, Kyoto University / Professor

Masami Hagiya, Director of the Institute for AI and Beyond of the University of Tokyo gave a special lecture entitled "Challenge of the Beyond AI Joint Project" at the “7th Japan IT Week in Kansai” on 19 January 2023 in Osaka, Japan.

A video recording of the lecture on 6 December 2022 by Drs. Richard Carter-White and Maartje Roelofsen hosted by the B'AI Global Forum is now available.

・Lecture title: Embodiment, Deferral and (Dis)inhibition: Learning and Teaching Geography with VR
・Speaker:
Richard Carter-White（Senior Lecturer in Human Geography at the School of Social Sciences, Macquarie University）
　Maartje Roelofsen (Postdoctoral Researcher, Faculty of Economics and Business, Universitat Oberta de Catalunya, Spain)
・Language: English

B’AI Global Forum was established as part of the medium- and long-term research project “B’AI Global Forum: Research on norms, ethics and praxis for a truly gender equal society and a guarantee of rights for minorities in the AI age” led by Professor Yuko ITATSU.

B'AI Global Forum: https://baiforum.jp/en/
Project page : https://beyondai.jp/contents/projects/hayashi/?lang=e

Special Guest Seminar was held on January 18, 2023 co-organized by Professor Tatsuya Harada's Research Group (Research Theme: Automatic Learning of High Accurate Prediction Models from Limited Supervised Data) and the Institute for AI and Beyond
Title: Making the Invisible Visible: Towards High-Quality Physics-Guided THz Computational Imaging
Speaker: Lin Chia-Wen/ Professor / National Tsing Hua University, Taiwan

A video recording of the lecture on 17 October 2022 by Dr. Lulu Shi hosted by the B'AI Global Forum is now available.

・Lecture title: The Future(s) of Unpaid Work: How Susceptible Do Experts from Different Backgrounds Think the Domestic Sphere is to Automation?
・Speaker: Lulu Shi (Postdoctoral Researcher, Department of Sociology, University of Oxford)
・Language: English

B’AI Global Forum was established as part of the medium- and long-term research project “B’AI Global Forum: Research on norms, ethics and praxis for a truly gender equal society and a guarantee of rights for minorities in the AI age” led by Professor Yuko ITATSU.

B'AI Global Forum: https://baiforum.jp/en/
Project page : https://beyondai.jp/contents/projects/hayashi/?lang=e

A lecture by Dr. Aynne Kokas about the battle between the U.S. and China for digital sovereignty, was held on 8 August at the B’AI Global Forum.

・Lecture title: Trafficking Data: How China is Winning the Battle for Digital Sovereignty
・Speaker: Aynne Kokas (Associate Professor, The University of Virginia, Abe Fellow)

A video recording of the lecture is now available.

B’AI Global Forum was established as part of the medium- and long-term research project “B’AI Global Forum: Research on norms, ethics and praxis for a truly gender equal society and a guarantee of rights for minorities in the AI age” led by Professor Yuko ITATSU.

B'AI Global Forum: https://baiforum.jp/en/
Project page : https://beyondai.jp/contents/projects/hayashi/?lang=e