The MIT-led Institute for Artificial Intelligence and Fundamental Interactions (IAFI) has received renewed support for an additional five years from the National Science Foundation (NSF), increasing annual funding from $4 million to $4.98 million. The renewal marks a new phase for IAIFI, which has spent its first five years building an interdisciplinary community around a research model and a central campus: AI can open up new ways of doing physics, while physics can help mold better AI systems.
Launched in 2020 as part of the National Artificial Intelligence Research Institute program, IAIFI brings together researchers from Harvard, Northeastern, Tufts, and Boston universities, as well as MIT. Its work has shown that machine learning can accelerate discoveries in physics, while insights from physics can make AI systems more theoretical and explainable.
“From the beginning, IAIFI has been built around a two-way street: AI enables better physics, and physics enables better AI,” says Jesse Thaler, director of IAIFI and professor of physics at MIT. “We have seen this virtuous cycle in many areas of physics and AI over the past five years. The exchange is generating not only new results, but also new ways of actually doing science.”
Research on Physics and AI
IAIFI’s research spans particle physics, nuclear physics, astrophysics and fundamental AI, with collaborations in these areas resulting in many advances.
In particle physics, IAIFI researchers have developed AI techniques to handle the huge data rates from the Large Hadron Collider in real time, helping turn the firehose of collision data into actionable physics. In nuclear physics, IAIFI researchers are using AI-based generative methods to model the interactions of quarks and gluons in lattice quantum chromodynamics, creating new ways to study the structure of matter from first principles. In astrophysics, machine learning is being used to uncover new cosmic phenomena and improve the sensitivity of the MIT-led LIGO gravitational-wave experiment.
Additionally, ideas from physics are informing the development of new AI methods. IAIFI researchers are developing learning algorithms and new model architectures that embed physics knowledge and best practices – including symmetries, geometric structures, accuracy guarantees and statistical methods – directly into neural networks, creating systems that are more reliable, interpretable and data-efficient.
“AI is beginning to transform the way physicists tackle some of the field’s most challenging problems,” says Mike Williams, interim director of IAIFI and professor of physics at MIT. “More importantly, it is beginning to expand the range of problems we can realistically address, making it possible to pursue questions that were once completely beyond our reach.”
training the next generation
A defining characteristic of IAIFI is its investment in people. The IAIFI Postdoctoral Fellows Program supports early-career scientists conducting research at the intersection of physics and AI, connecting each fellow with mentors in both domains and fostering collaboration across institutions.
So far eight fellows have completed the program. Three have secured faculty positions; Others have taken up research roles at leading AI companies or joined startups, demonstrating how widely applicable the skills developed at IAIFI are.
“The IAIFI fellowships show what can happen when early-career scientists are given the freedom and support to work across traditional boundaries,” says Fiala Shanahan, interim deputy director of IAIFI and professor of physics at MIT. “Our partners are not just making isolated contributions to physics or AI – they are helping shape a growing field at the intersection.”
IAIFI’s annual PhD Summer School has become a focal point for a growing community of “centaur scientists” specializing in both physics and AI. For the 2026 edition, the program received approximately 600 applications for approximately 100 individual spots, with approximately 300 additional participants expected to join virtually. Past participants have strongly recommended the school to their peers for its combination of lectures, practical tutorials, coding sprints and networking events.
At MIT, IAIFI has helped shape new educational pathways, including an interdisciplinary PhD program in Physics, Statistics, and Data Science – a collaboration between the Department of Physics and the Center for Statistics and Data Science – which has awarded 20 doctoral degrees since 2021. IAIFI members Phil Harris and Isaac Chuang have also developed a course on computational data science in physics, which is offered on campus (Course 8.16) and as a free online course through MITx.
a growing community
Beyond its core research and training programs, IAIFI convenes researchers through its annual Summer Workshop, which this year will be held in the MIT Schwarzman College of Computing Building. The Institute also engages the broader public through collaborations with the MIT Museum, the Museum of Science in Boston, hackathons, and widely viewed online content exploring AI and physics.
“IAIFI shows what is possible when researchers from physics, computation, statistics, and data science organize around shared scientific questions,” says Nargis Mavalvala, dean of the MIT School of Science and the Curtis and Kathleen Marble Professor of Astrophysics. “This kind of sustained, interdisciplinary collaboration is essential to the future of scientific discovery.”
IAIFI is hosted at the Laboratory for Nuclear Sciences at MIT, led by Director Jesse Thaler (currently on sabbatical), Interim Director Mike Williams, Interim Deputy Director Fiala Shanahan, and Managing Director Marisa LaFleur, as well as Steering Committee members Lisa Barsotti, Isaac Chuang, Will Detmold, Bill Freeman, Phil Harris, Lena Nesib, Tess Smidt, and Marin Soljesik (and others). Member) do. IAIFI University).
looking ahead
As a member of the National Artificial Intelligence Research Institute program, IAIFI is part of a nationwide effort to advance AI-powered discovery and innovation.
“The relationships between NSF AI Institutes are as valuable and growing as the work within them,” says Marisa LaFleur, Managing Director of IAIFI. “We’re sharing management strategies and resources for training, community building, and collaboration that strengthen the entire network.”
For IAIFI, the renewed funding is an opportunity to deeply pursue what the institute calls the “physics of AI” – using physical reasoning, physical challenges, and physical tools to not just implement AI, but to understand and improve it. That agenda, along with a growing community of researchers trained to work across disciplines, drives the next phase of the institute.
“The first phase of IAFI established the model: interdisciplinary research, early-career talent, and a dynamic community, organized around the idea that AI and physics reinforce each other,” says Thaler. “We now have the foundation – and the entrepreneurial spirit of our Centaur scientists – to push that model into new territory and scale our ambitions.”
