Since its creation in 2003, the motto of the TAO team has always been that Optimization and Machine Learning are two sides of the same coin (TAO == Theme Apprentissage et Optimisation).

Within TAO, we addressed different flavours of AI, from continuous to combinatorial optimization, from AI planning to Constraint Programming, from SVMs to Neural Networks, early advocating for the “all of AI” approaches. Furthermore, since the mid-2000s, the democratization of AI (at least Optimization and Learning) was one of the core concerns of the team, it became AutoML, AutoAI, or AI4all. Finally, when TAO became TAU in 2017, one of the three pillars of our research agenda was “Good AI”, including causal inference from data, robustness and verification of AI models, and explainability and fairness, with applications in Human and Social Sciences.

At the same time, we have always been convinced that going at the European level was the only reasonable path to maintain research at its best in France, facing US academics first, and more recently US and Chinese BigTech companies. Michèle and me both participated in FP6 and FP7 Networks of Excellence (PASCAL and Evonet); We have been involved in several European research projects, from Robotics to Networks, and from Software Testing to Trustworthy AI with Genetic Programming. It was hence a natural move for us to join CLAIRE, for its inclusive dimensions, both regarding topics (all of AI), humans (AI4All), and geography (all of Europe).

Facts and Figures

• 35 members: 9 permanent staff, 2 research positions, 5 associate members, 2 collaborators from A&O team, 15 PhD students, 2 engineers
• Areas of AI research

• • Machine Learning
  • Search and Optimisation
  • Autonomic Computing
  • Crossing the Chasm
  • Complex Systems
  • Continuous Optimization
  • Optimal Decision Making under Uncertainty
  • Reservoir Computing

• Contact
  • Marc Shoenauer, Principal Senior Researcher with INRIA, Deputy Research Director in charge of AI and co-head of the TAU group (formerly TAO) with Michèle Sebag, marc.schoenauer(at)inria.fr

(as of April 2021)