Stanford
University
  • Stanford Home
  • Maps & Directions
  • Search Stanford
  • Emergency Info
  • Terms of Use
  • Privacy
  • Copyright
  • Trademarks
  • Non-Discrimination
  • Accessibility
© Stanford University.  Stanford, California 94305.
Applied Physics/Physics Colloquium | Stanford HAI
Skip to content
  • About

    • About
    • People
    • Get Involved with HAI
    • Support HAI
    • Subscribe to Email
  • Research

    • Research
    • Fellowship Programs
    • Grants
    • Student Affinity Groups
    • Centers & Labs
    • Research Publications
    • Research Partners
  • Education

    • Education
    • Executive and Professional Education
    • Government and Policymakers
    • K-12
    • Stanford Students
  • Policy

    • Policy
    • Policy Publications
    • Policymaker Education
    • Student Opportunities
  • AI Index

    • AI Index
    • AI Index Report
    • Global Vibrancy Tool
    • People
  • News
  • Events
  • Industry
  • Centers & Labs
Navigate
  • About
  • Events
  • Careers
  • Search
Participate
  • Get Involved
  • Support HAI
  • Contact Us

Stay Up To Date

Get the latest news, advances in research, policy work, and education program updates from HAI in your inbox weekly.

Sign Up For Latest News

Your browser does not support the video tag.
eventLecture

Applied Physics/Physics Colloquium

Status
Past
Date
Tuesday, October 05, 2021 4:30 PM PST/PDT
Location
Zoom Meeting (Password: 740805)
Attend Virtually
Share
Link copied to clipboard!
Event Contact
Surya Ganguli
sganguli@stanford.edu

Related Events

Caroline Meinhardt, Thomas Mullaney, Juan N. Pava, and Diyi Yang | How Can AI Support Language Digitization and Digital Inclusion?
SeminarApr 15, 202612:00 PM - 1:15 PM
April
15
2026

What does digital inclusion look like in the age of AI? Over 6,000 of the world’s 7,000-plus living languages remain digitally disadvantaged.

Seminar

Caroline Meinhardt, Thomas Mullaney, Juan N. Pava, and Diyi Yang | How Can AI Support Language Digitization and Digital Inclusion?

Apr 15, 202612:00 PM - 1:15 PM

What does digital inclusion look like in the age of AI? Over 6,000 of the world’s 7,000-plus living languages remain digitally disadvantaged.

AI+Science: Accelerating Discovery
ConferenceMay 05, 20268:30 AM - 5:00 PM
May
05
2026

AI+Science: Accelerating Discovery is an interdisciplinary conference bringing together researchers across physics, mathematics, chemistry, biology, neuroscience, and more to examine how AI is reshaping scientific discovery. Experts will separate hype from reality, spotlighting where AI is already enabling genuine breakthroughs and where its limits and risks remain.

Conference

AI+Science: Accelerating Discovery

May 05, 20268:30 AM - 5:00 PM

AI+Science: Accelerating Discovery is an interdisciplinary conference bringing together researchers across physics, mathematics, chemistry, biology, neuroscience, and more to examine how AI is reshaping scientific discovery. Experts will separate hype from reality, spotlighting where AI is already enabling genuine breakthroughs and where its limits and risks remain.

Wolfgang Lehrach | Code World Models for General Game Playing
SeminarMay 13, 202612:00 PM - 1:15 PM
May
13
2026

While Large Language Models (LLMs) show promise in many domains, relying on them for direct policy generation in games often results in illegal moves and poor strategic play.

Seminar

Wolfgang Lehrach | Code World Models for General Game Playing

May 13, 202612:00 PM - 1:15 PM

While Large Language Models (LLMs) show promise in many domains, relying on them for direct policy generation in games often results in illegal moves and poor strategic play.

“Weaving together theoretical physics, machine learning and neuroscience: a tale of neurons, atoms and photons in the service of computation”

We are witnessing an exciting interplay between physics, computation and neurobiology that spans in multiple directions. In one direction we can use the power of complex systems analysis, developed in theoretical physics and applied mathematics, to elucidate design principles governing how neural networks, both biological and artificial, can learn and function. In another direction, we can exploit novel physics to instantiate and analyze new kinds of quantum neuromorphic computers built using atomic spins and photons. We will give several vignettes in both directions, including:

(1) deriving the detailed structure of the primate retina from first principles by developing optimal neural networks for processing natural movies 

(2) using dynamic mean field theory to understand and optimize the training of deep neural networks used in machine learning 

(3) understanding the geometry and dynamics of high dimensional optimization in the classical limit of a dissipative many-body quantum optimizer comprised of interacting photons

CLICK HERE TO JOIN THE ZOOM MEETINGGanguli headshot photoSurya Ganguli

Associate Professor of Applied Physics, and by courtesy, of Neurobiology, of Electrical Engineering, and of Computer Science, Stanford University; Faculty Associate Director, Stanford HAI

Click here for recordings of past colloquia

References: Y. Bahri, J. Kadmon, J. Pennington, S. Schoenholz, J. Sohl-Dickstein, and S. Ganguli, Statistical mechanics of deep learning, Annual Reviews of Condensed Matter Physics, 2020. M. Advani, S. Lahiri and S. Ganguli, Statistical mechanics of complex neural systems and high dimensional data, Journal of Statistical Mechanics Theory and Experiment (2013), P03014. S. Deny, J. Lindsey, S. Ganguli, S. Ocko, The emergence of multiple retinal cell types through efficient coding of natural movies, Neural Information Processing Systems (NeurIPS) 2018. B. Poole, S. Lahiri, M. Raghu, J. Sohl-Dickstein, and S. Ganguli, Exponential expressivity in deep neural networks through transient chaos, Neural Information Processing Systems (NIPS) 2016. J. Pennington, S. Schloenholz, and S. Ganguli, Resurrecting the sigmoid in deep learning through dynamical isometry: theory and practice, Neural Information Processing Systems (NIPS) 2017. Y. Yamamoto, T. Leleu, S. Ganguli and H. Mabuchi, Coherent Ising Machines: quantum optics and neural network perspectives, Applied Physics Letters 2020. B.P. Marsh, Y, Guo, R.M. Kroeze, S. Gopalakrishnan, S. Ganguli, J. Keeling, B.L. Lev, Enhancing associative memory recall and storage capacity using confocal cavity QED, Physical Review X, 2020.