Course on “Relative toposes for artificial general intelligence”

In the forthcoming weeks, in the framework of my D’Alembert Chair at the Université Paris-Saclay, I shall give a course at the MICS Laboratory of CentraleSupélec on “Relative toposes for artificial general intelligence“.

ABSTRACT:

Topos theory can be described as the science of invariants. The theory of relative toposes consists in methods and techniques for studying toposes in relation to each other. Viewing toposes as spaces embodying information, this theory notably paves the way for the development of new, very dynamical and structural forms of modelling, both of ‘real’ entities and phenomena, and of (natural or artificial) learning processes. In particular, it naturally leads to the design of systems implementing principles of meta-learning (in the sense of learning taking place at different levels of abstraction constructed on top of each other).

The first part of the course will provide a conceptual introduction to the theory of relative toposes and its relevance for AI, while the second will present some first applications of this theory in connection with the modelling and solution of Raven progressive matrices and, more generally, of ARC-type problems.

N.C. No previous knowledge of topos theory is necessary for understanding the key ideas and methods presented in the course.

DATES:

– Thursday 26 June 2025, 14-16, Amphi SC.046 (Peugeot), Bouygues building (9 Rue Joliot Curie, 91190 Gif-sur-Yvette).
– Thursday 3 July 2025, 14-16, Amphi SC.046 (Peugeot), Bouygues building (9 Rue Joliot Curie, 91190 Gif-sur-Yvette).

Looking forward to seeing many of you there!

Relative toposes and meta-learning

I am glad to share the slides of my recent talk on Relative toposes and meta-learning at the Computing and AI Summit in London.

In this presentation I give a conceptual introduction to the theory of relative toposes and discuss its relevance for modelling learning processes which build on top of existing knowledge through a sequence of steps lying at increasing levels of abstraction.

The ultimate aim of artificial meta-learning should be to mimic the distinctive, multi-layered way in which human learning unfolds, whilst leveraging the superior processing capabilities of machines.

Syntactic learning

The slides of my recent talk at the AI workshop at RL China are available below.

In this presentation I propose an interpretation of learning processes in terms of the notions of mathematical theory and proof, and advocate for the importance of empowering artificial learnings systems with large formal vocabularies that will serve for expressing the concepts (and relations between them) that they will learn from data.

The aim is to obtain more robust and structured forms of learning with generalisation capabilities, and greater resilience and adaptability, mimicking the distinctive features of human intelligence.

We also consider this project as an essential step for arriving at a toposic theory of semantic information; indeed, syntax and semantics are interwined (think, for instance, of the syntactic construction of classifying toposes).

I look forward to experimentally testing these ideas with our team at the Lagrange Center in Paris.

Slides: “Toposes as ‘bridges’ for mathematics and artificial intelligence”

The slides of my talk at the Workshop on Semantic Information and Communication are available for download: