IMFD Researchers Participate in the Creation of New Basal Center in Artificial Intelligence
**Santiago, September 2021.-** Turning Chile into a hub for artificial intelligence development for Latin America and the world is the main goal of the new **National Center for Research in Artificial Intelligence**, awarded this Wednesday, September 8th. This project is part of the Basal Centers of Excellence of the [Ministry of Science, Technology, Knowledge and Innovation (MinCyT)](https://www.minciencia.gob.cl/) and will be directed by [Álvaro Soto](https://imfd.cl/investigador/alvaro-soto-arriaza/), of the [Department of Computer Science at Universidad Católica](https://dcc.ing.puc.cl/) and Researcher at the **Millennium Institute for Foundational Research on Data (IMFD)**, with the participation of outstanding researchers from the **IMFD**.
“We hope this center will be an engine that **strengthens the capabilities of excellence we have in the country in artificial intelligence**, becoming common ground that allows us to scale the efforts of different centers and universities. In this way, we will be able to have a national ecosystem for AI research, development, and dissemination, with **connections to leading institutions dedicated to this topic internationally**,” says Álvaro Soto, director of the new center of excellence.
**Pablo Barceló**, director of the [UC Institute for Mathematical and Computational Engineering](http://imc.uc.cl/) and Deputy Director of IMFD, actively participated and was a key player in the creation of this center. “Chile’s scientific research system needs to rethink the concept of competitiveness: it is not about competing among ourselves for resources that we know are limited, but about finding ways to deepen the quality of science in Chile and bring it to levels of excellence. To do that, it is essential to work collaboratively across centers, strengthening each other from our respective areas and growing together,” says Barceló.
“AI research brings together different lines of work, from the most theoretical to the most applied, related to the fair and ethical applications of these systems. IMFD hopes to establish collaborative connections with the basal center that Álvaro Soto will direct, confident that they will enrich the work of both institutions,” added Pablo Barceló.
Serving as Deputy Director of the Center for Research in Artificial Intelligence is [Marcela Peña](http://psicologia.uc.cl/persona/marcela-pena-garay/), a faculty member at the [Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory of the School of Psychology at Universidad Católica de Chile](https://www.psicologia.uc.cl/investigacion/laboratorios/laboratorio-neurociencias-cognitivas/). One of her team’s goals will be to investigate how to apply artificial intelligence algorithms to better understand how the brain and human mind work, and thus design AI-based interventions and technologies to promote mental health, among other topics.
The new center will be structured around 5 research lines:
**Deep Learning for Vision and Language**
[Denis Parra](https://www.ing.uc.cl/academicos-e-investigadores/denis-alejandro-parra-santander/) and [Álvaro Soto](https://imfd.cl/investigador/alvaro-soto-arriaza/), [Department of Computer Science, Universidad Católica](https://dcc.ing.puc.cl/), IMFD
Its goal will be to explore both the **potential and the limits of deep learning models**, with a focus on vision and language. It will also **develop new theories about the learning mechanisms behind DL and its capabilities**.
**Neuro-Symbolic Artificial Intelligence**
[Pablo Barceló](https://www.ing.uc.cl/academicos-e-investigadores/pablo-barcelo-baeza-2/), [UC Institute for Mathematical and Computational Engineering](http://imc.uc.cl/), IMFD; and [Leopoldo Bertossi](https://ingenieria.uai.cl/profesor/leopoldo-bertossi/), [Universidad Adolfo Ibáñez](https://ingenieria.uai.cl/), IMFD
It seeks to build bridges between **deep learning and symbolic artificial intelligence**, creating applications aimed at explainable, ethical, and fair artificial intelligence.
**Brain-Inspired Artificial Intelligence**
[Pedro Maldonado](https://dcb.med.uchile.cl/pedro-maldonado-arbogast/), [Universidad de Chile](http://www.medicina.uchile.cl/), and [Marcela Peña](http://psicologia.uc.cl/persona/marcela-pena-garay/), [P. Universidad Católica de Chile](https://www.psicologia.uc.cl/investigacion/laboratorios/laboratorio-neurociencias-cognitivas/)
This line aims to bring together **scientists from neuroscience, cognitive psychology, and artificial intelligence** to leverage **knowledge of the anatomical and cognitive operations of biological brains**, in order to shed light for artificial intelligence researchers.
**Physics-Based Machine Learning**
[Paula Aguirre](https://www.ing.uc.cl/academicos-e-investigadores/paula-andrea-aguirre-aparicio/), [Eduardo Cerpa](https://www.ing.uc.cl/academicos-e-investigadores/eduardo-cerpa/), [Institute for Mathematical and Computational Engineering, Universidad Católica de Chile (IMC UC)](http://imc.uc.cl/)
Mathematicians, physicists, and artificial intelligence scientists will seek to **leverage knowledge from the physical sciences** to **develop machine learning models based on causal relationships**.
**Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence**
[Marcelo Mendoza](https://imfd.cl/investigador/marcelo-mendoza/#:~:text=Es%20director%20del%20Programa%20de,Patrones%20(ACHIRP)%20desde%202015.), [Universidad Técnica Federico Santa María](https://www.inf.utfsm.cl/), IMFD; and [Bárbara Poblete](https://imfd.cl/investigador/barbara-poblete/), [Universidad de Chile](https://www.dcc.uchile.cl/), IMFD
Transparency, security, and the fair use of technologies will be the focus of this line, as well as methodologies to assess their impact. In this area, applications are sought to prevent problems such as **privacy intrusion, lack of security, and harmful biases**, and to promote **new tools for interpretable and explainable AI**.
The new National Center for Research in Artificial Intelligence brings together the following IMFD researchers:
**Álvaro Soto**, Department of Computer Science, Universidad Católica de Chile, IALab, IMFD.
**Leopoldo Bertossi**, Faculty of Engineering, Universidad Adolfo Ibáñez, IMFD.
**Bárbara Poblete**, Department of Computer Science, Universidad de Chile, IMFD.
**Marcelo Mendoza**, Department of Informatics, Universidad Técnica Federico Santa María, IMFD.
**Pablo Barceló**, Institute for Mathematical and Computational Engineering IMC, Universidad Católica de Chile, IMFD.
**Denis Parra**, Department of Computer Science, Universidad Católica de Chile, IALab, IMFD.
**Jorge Baier**, Department of Computer Science, Universidad Católica de Chile, IMFD.
**Jorge Pérez**, Department of Computer Science, Universidad de Chile, IMFD.
**Hans Löbel**, Department of Computer Science, Universidad Católica de Chile, IMFD.
Joining from other universities and research centers:
**Marcela Peña**, Department of Psychology, Universidad Católica de Chile.
**Pedro Maldonado**, Faculty of Medicine, Universidad de Chile, BNI.
**Domingo Mery**, Department of Computer Science, Universidad Católica de Chile.
**Christ Devia**, Department of Neuroscience, Faculty of Medicine, Universidad de Chile, BNI.
**Andrés Neyem**, Department of Computer Science, Universidad Católica de Chile.
**Carlos Hernández**, Faculty of Engineering, Universidad Andrés Bello.
**Margarita Castro**, Department of Industrial Engineering, Universidad Católica de Chile.
**Paula Aguirre**, Institute for Mathematical and Computational Engineering IMC, Universidad Católica de Chile.
**Eduardo Cerpa**, Institute for Mathematical and Computational Engineering IMC, Universidad Católica de Chile.
**Manuel Sánchez**, Institute for Mathematical and Computational Engineering IMC, Universidad Católica de Chile.
**Pedro Saa**, Institute for Mathematical and Computational Engineering IMC, Universidad Católica de Chile.
**Carlos Pérez**, Institute for Mathematical and Computational Engineering IMC, Universidad Católica de Chile.
**Carlos Sing-Long**, Institute for Mathematical and Computational Engineering IMC, Universidad Católica de Chile.
**Mircea Petrache**, Institute for Mathematical and Computational Engineering IMC, Universidad Católica de Chile.
**Luis Cristóbal Rojas**, Institute for Mathematical and Computational Engineering IMC, Universidad Católica de Chile.
**Miguel Romero**, Faculty of Engineering and Sciences, Universidad Adolfo Ibáñez.
**Adrián Soto**, Faculty of Engineering and Sciences, Universidad Adolfo Ibáñez.
**Yamisleidy Salgueiro**, Faculty of Engineering, Universidad de Talca.
**Claudia López**, Department of Informatics, Universidad Técnica Federico Santa María.
**María Jara**, Faculty of Medicine, Universidad Católica de Chile.
**Cristobal Moenne**, Department of Neuroscience, Faculty of Medicine, Universidad Católica de Chile.
**Pamela Guevara**, Faculty of Engineering, Universidad de Concepción.
**Esteban Pino**, Faculty of Engineering, Universidad de Concepción.
**Juan Carlos Herrera**, Department of Transport and Logistics Engineering, Universidad Católica de Chile.
**Karim Pichara**, Department of Computer Science, Universidad Católica de Chile.