We are the NSF AI Institute for Foundations of Machine Learning (IFML)
Designated by the National Science Foundation (NSF) in 2020, IFML develops the key foundational tools for the next decade of AI innovation. Our institute comprises researchers from The University of Texas at Austin, University of Washington, Wichita State University, Stanford University, Santa Fe Institute, University of Nevada-Reno, Boston College, CalTech, University of California, Berkeley, and University of California, Los Angeles.
Our researchers create new algorithms that can help machines learn on the fly, change their expectations as they encounter people and objects in real life, and even bounce back from deliberate attempts by adversaries to manipulate datasets.
Featured
 
Workshop
Fall AI Research Symposium
Celebrating five years of innovation with perspectives on foundation models, diffusion, LLMs, vision, and the future of generative AI
-   Article Course on Diffusion Models for Generative AIRead More 
-   Event UT Expands Research on AI Accuracy and Reliability to Support Breakthroughs in Science, Technology and the WorkforceRead More 
-   Article UT to Lead the Next Gen of AIRead More 
-   Article NSF IFML Podcast: From Research Discovery to Real-World ImpactRead More 
-   Article NSF IFML Researchers Win Outstanding Paper Award at ICML 2025Read More 
-   Article Turbocharging Protein Engineering with AIRead More 
Upcoming Events and Workshops
- November5Fall AI Research SymposiumTalk by Amin Karbasi (Senior Director of AI Research, Cisco Foundation AI) and Vahab Mirrokni (Google Fellow and VP, Google Research) November7IFML Seminar: 11/07/25 - Model Self-improvement via Optimal RetrainingTalk by Adel Javanmard, Professor of Data Sciences and Operation, USC Marshall School of Business November14IFML Seminar: 11/14/25 - Faster Diffusion Language ModelsTalk by Sujay Sanghavi, Bettie Margaret Smith Professor, Chandra Family Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, UT Austin 
Previously Recorded Talks
New & Noteworthy
- Article- NSF IFML Researchers Win Outstanding Paper Award at ICML 2025- "Train for the Worst, Plan for the Best: Understanding Token Ordering in Masked Diffusions" 
- Article- IFML research collaborations power next generation of multimodal AI with OpenCLIP and DataComp- OpenCLIP, the main text/image encoder in Stable Diffusion, is in the top 1% of all Python packages and has more than 50,000 git clones per day. DataComp, is the first rigorous benchmark for advancing multimodal dataset creation. 
- Article- The Future of Protein Engineering: Unlocking Evolutionary Insights & Stability- Danny Diaz on Root Access Podcast! 
- Article- Can AI Make Critical Communications Chips Easier to Design?- NSF IFML Director Adam Klivans part of multi-university team and industry team formed to accelerate AI-driven design of radio frequency integrated circuits. 
- Article- Smoothed Analysis for Learning Concepts with Low Intrinsic Dimension earns Best Paper Award at COLT 2024!- Authored by IFML Director Adam Klivans, students Gautam Chandrasekaran, Konstantinos Stavropoulos, IFML postdoc Vasilis Kontonis, and former UT CS PhD Raghu Meka 
