Lancelot Da Costa is a mathematician developing foundations for understanding and building intelligence. His work has helped formalize a leading theory of brain function (the free energy principle), and he now uses these ideas to develop AI agents that learn like children do: through active world modeling. He currently works as a postdoctoral researcher at the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems in TΓΌbingen, Germany.Β He has authored over 50 papers in the fields of artificial intelligence, mathematics, physics and theoretical neuroscience. He received the Best Maths PhD thesis prize from Imperial College London, Best Paper awards from Entropy, and excellence awards from the American Physical Society, G-Research and Luxembourg's National Research Fund. His work has been featured by Machine Learning Street Talk, the Active Inference Institute and the Singularity project. Lance received his PhD in Mathematics from Imperial College London, Master degrees in Pure Mathematics from Cambridge University and Brain Sciences from UCL, and a Bachelor of Mathematics from EPFL. More information can be found on his website: lancelotdacosta.com
I was born in Japan and lived in 8 different countries... and counting! πΊοΈΒ
After work I like
Doing sports (yoga, climbing π§ββοΈ, volleyball π ... anything is fun!), ideally with friends,
Spending time with friends (usually - but not always - over a delicious meal π),
Cooking (nothing complicated - fast, healthy, and mostly vegetarian dishes π₯),
Reading (science fiction π, self-help and biographies, mostly π).
Sleeping π΄. This is my number π₯ activity - I sleep more than anyone I know, and probably anyone you know as well π¦₯.
On holiday, I like to discover
New places and cultures π, and experience life like a local from another place,
New (and enjoy known) cuisines π - I am a huge foodie!,
Breathtaking nature landscapes ποΈ and cities π½, sometimes through hiking, skiing β·οΈ, sailing or mountaineering!Β
... And recharge β‘π.