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Nachrichten, Termine, Experten
Nachrichten, Termine, Experten
Bremen, Aug. 12, 2026 In just a few days, some of the world’s leading artificial intelligence researchers will gather in Bremen. From August 15 to 21, the city will host IJCAI-ECAI 2026, one of the world’s leading scientific conferences on artificial intelligence. Around 3,000 participants from more than 40 countries are expected to attend, including many participants from China, the United States, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, and Japan.
Bremen’s selection as the host city for IJCAI-ECAI 2026 was the result of an international bidding process. In 2022, Bremen prevailed over other candidates. Among the factors considered was the strength of the region’s AI research ecosystem. The Local Arrangements Committee is chaired by Professor Tanja Schultz of the University of Bremen, Professor Frank Kirchner of the University of Bremen and the German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence (DFKI), and Dr. Monika Michaelis of the U Bremen Research Alliance. Tanja Schultz:
“The decision in favor of Bremen shows that an outstanding scientific environment and international collaboration in the field of AI are recognized worldwide. Here in Bremen, the right areas of expertise come together to address the key questions in AI research today: fundamental and applied research spanning robotics and human-centered systems, machine learning and data science, as well as spaceflight, maritime technologies, and health. We are delighted to welcome the international AI community here.”
The conference begins with workshops and tutorials on the University of Bremen campus from August 15 to 17. The main scientific program will take place from Tuesday, August 18, through Friday, August 21.
IJCAI-ECAI is neither a political summit nor a technology trade show. It is a forum for peer-reviewed scientific research at the highest international level. Accepted papers have undergone a highly selective peer-review process. The conference focuses on new methods, models, and systems that enable machines to learn, reason, perceive, act, and interact with humans or other technical systems.
The program highlights several major directions in contemporary AI research. Professor Nick Jennings, Vice-Chancellor and President of Loughborough University and recipient of the IJCAI Research Excellence Award, will speak about agentic AI and how multiple AI systems can cooperate and interact with humans. David C. Parkes, Dean of the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences and recipient of the John McCarthy Award, will examine the mechanisms, incentives, and institutions needed for such “agent societies.” Barbara Plank, Professor at LMU Munich and President of the Association for Computational Linguistics, will explore how human disagreement and ambiguity can inform the development and evaluation of AI systems.
Additional talks include Tinne Tuytelaars of KU Leuven on visual representations in foundation models; Jan Peters of TU Darmstadt and DFKI on robot reinforcement learning; Luciano Serafini of Fondazione Bruno Kessler on neuro-symbolic AI; Jiajun Wu of Stanford University on visual and physical intelligence; and Doina Precup of McGill University and DeepMind Montréal on reinforcement learning and decision-making under uncertainty.
The conference will also address European AI regulation. Jeroen Delfos of the European Commission’s AI Office will present on the EU AI Act, examining the implications of Europe’s new legal framework for AI research, development, and deployment.
IJCAI-ECAI does not adopt political resolutions. Nevertheless, the conference has significant societal and policy relevance. Many of the topics it addresses touch on key issues that will shape the years ahead: trustworthy AI, AI safety, human-centered artificial intelligence, AI in health and medicine, robotics, AI for sustainability, AI-generated images and video, and the regulation of autonomous systems. Many participants are leading scientists who also contribute to national and international advisory bodies, expert commissions, and scientific academies. Insights emerging from conferences such as IJCAI-ECAI can therefore inform policy debates, standards, and regulation, even though no political decisions are made at the conference itself.
IJCAI-ECAI is a scientific conference for the international research community. At the same time, Bremen will host a number of events that are open to the public and designed to engage local residents and businesses.
One highlight of the public program is the AI Lecture “The AI Race” by Professor Toby Walsh, a leading AI researcher at UNSW Sydney. Walsh will examine the global race for artificial intelligence, the societal consequences of massive investment in AI, and ways in which AI can be developed responsibly beyond the logic of a purely technological race.
Safe AI agents will also feature prominently in the program. At the public AI Panel “New Directions for Safe AI Agents,” Mark Maybury, former Chief Scientist of the U.S. Air Force; Wolfgang Wahlster, one of the pioneers of AI research in Germany and Europe; Josephine Liu, an expert in AI safety, security, and governance; and Francesca Rossi, IBM Fellow and IBM Global Leader for Responsible AI and AI Governance, professor at the University of Padua, and former President of IJCAI, will discuss the challenges surrounding increasingly autonomous AI systems. The panel will focus on reliability, transparency, human oversight, governance, and the real-world deployment of agentic AI.
Alongside the conference, additional events will bring the AI debate into the city and make it accessible to a broader public. At the Open Space on Bremen’s Domshof, four AI Lounges will explore AI and media, public administration, education, and the future of work. The AI x Open Lab in the Kassenhalle at Forum Domshof will invite school groups, vocational trainees, and interested members of the public to explore artificial intelligence through interactive activities.
For one week, IJCAI-ECAI 2026 will make Bremen a focal point for major questions in AI research, regulation, and real-world applications.
Members of the media seeking accreditation, interviews, or additional information can contact the IJCAI-ECAI 2026 Local Press Office at press@2026.ijcai.org.
https://www.bremen-research.de/en/activities/artificial-intelligence/summer-of-a..., Information Summer of AI in Bremen
https://2026.ijcai.org/wp-content/fullprogram/index.html, IJCAI Program
https://2026.ijcai.org/, IJCAI website
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