Synergy of AI and Physics

Shun-ichi Amari is a global pioneer in neural network research and a founder of the mathematical foundations of AI. He is a Professor Emeritus at The University of Tokyo and an Honorary Scientist at RIKEN. He was awarded the Order of Culture in 2019 and the Kyoto Prize in 2025. Currently, as a Specially Appointed Professor at Teikyo University’s Advanced Comprehensive Research Organization, he continues to research and speak on the origins and future of artificial intelligence.

Daisuke Okanohara is the Chief Executive Officer of Preferred Networks (PFN) which he co-founded in March 2014 to advance AI toward practical use across industries. Before being appointed CEO in November 2025, he led research and business efforts for PFN’s core technologies including generative AI, PLaMo™ large language model and Matlantis™ universal atomistic simulator as the company’s Chief Technology Officer. Okanohara also serves as the Chief Executive Officer of PFN’s subsidiary Matlantis Corporation. Okanohara co-founded PFN’s predecessor Preferred Infrastructure with current PFN Chairman Toru Nishikawa and others when he was a graduate student in 2006. He received a Ph.D degree in Computer Science from the University of Tokyo in 2010.

Jascha Sohl-Dickstein is the inventor of diffusion models, the foundational technology behind image-generative AI. He has previously worked as a Principal Scientist at Google Brain and Google DeepMind, a Visiting Scholar at Stanford University, and an Academic Resident at the educational nonprofit Khan Academy. He has been a member of the technical staff at Anthropic since 2023.

As a founding member of OpenAI Japan, Shoko Utsunomiya promotes AI adoption across a wide range of industries. She previously served as an Associate Professor at the National Institute of Informatics (NII) working on quantum computing, followed by research and development in autonomous driving, AI, and quantum computing applications in the private sector. She has been a Principal Solutions Engineer at OpenAI Japan since July 2024.

Yutaka Matsuo is a professor at the University of Tokyo, Graduate School of Engineering, Department of Technology Management for Innovation. He holds a Ph.D. in Engineering and graduated from the Department of Electronic and Information Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, the University of Tokyo. His main areas of expertise are artificial intelligence, deep learning, and web mining. He has served as an outside director of SoftBank Group and Panasonic Holdings, as well as an expert member of the Council for Japan’s Growth Strategy.

Widely regarded as one of the founders of modern generative AI, Max Welling has invented widely used AI technologies such as Variational Autoencoders (VAE) and Graph Convolutional Networks (GCN). His work bridges probability, geometry, and learning theory, significantly advancing the mathematical understanding of AI. He serves as a Professor of Machine Learning at the University of Amsterdam and as CTO of CuspAI, the UK and Netherlands-founded frontier AI company on a mission to solve the breakthrough materials needed to power human progress.

Hirosi Ooguri is a theoretical physicist who works on quantum field theory, quantum gravity, and string theory. He is the Fred Kavli Professor of Theoretical Physics and Mathematics, as well as the Kent and Joyce Kresa Leadership Chair of the Division of Physics, Mathematics, and Astronomy at the California Institute of Technology. At the University of Tokyo, he was Director of the Kavli Institute for the Physics and Mathematics of the Universe (Kavli IPMU) and is currently a University Professor..

His research field is nonequilibrium statistical mechanics and quantum information. He completed the doctoral program in the Department of Physics, Graduate School of Science, The University of Tokyo in 2011 and received a Ph.D. in Physics. After serving, among other positions, as Associate Professor at the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, The University of Tokyo, he has been Professor in the Department of Applied Physics, Graduate School of Engineering, The University of Tokyo since 2020 (his present position).

His research field is nonequilibrium quantum statistical mechanics. He completed the doctoral program in the Department of Physics, Graduate School of Science, The University of Tokyo in 2020 and received a Ph.D. in Physics. He became a RIKEN Hakubi Team Leader in Cluster for Pioneering Research at RIKEN in 2020 and, since 2025, he has been a RIKEN Hakubi Team Leader in Pioneering Research Institute at RIKEN (his present position).

His research field is theory at the interface between statistical physics and information science. He received his Ph.D. in Physics from Kyoto University in 1994. After working as Research Assistant in the Faculty of Science, Nara Women's University, and as Professor in the Interdisciplinary Graduate School of Science and Engineering and the School of Computing at Tokyo Institute of Technology, he has been Professor at the Institute for Physics of Intelligence, Graduate School of Science, The University of Tokyo since 2020 and, since 2023, Director of the Institute (both current positions).

His research fields are machine learning and statistical learning theory. He completed the doctoral program in the Graduate School of Information Science and Engineering, Tokyo Institute of Technology in 2001 and received a Ph.D. in Engineering. After serving as Associate Professor at the same graduate school, among other positions, he has been Professor in the Department of Complexity Science and Engineering, Graduate School of Frontier Sciences, The University of Tokyo since 2014 and, since 2016, Director of the RIKEN Center for Advanced Intelligence Project (both current posts).

His research field is the theory of quantum many-body systems and quantum optics. He completed the doctoral program in the Department of Physics, Graduate School of Science, The University of Tokyo in 2019 and received a Ph.D. in Physics. After serving as Assistant Professor in the Department of Applied Physics, Graduate School of Engineering, The University of Tokyo, he has been Associate Professor in the Department of Physics, Graduate School of Science, The University of Tokyo since 2020 (his present position).

His research field is nonequilibrium statistical mechanics and biophysics. He completed the doctoral program in the Department of Physics, Graduate School of Science, The University of Tokyo in 2015 and received a Ph.D. in Physics. After serving as Assistant Professor at the Research Institute for Electronic Science, Hokkaido University, among other positions, he has been Associate Professor at the Universal Biology Institute, Graduate School of Science, The University of Tokyo since 2023 (his current position).

His research field is nonequilibrium physics and biophysics. He completed the doctoral program in the Department of Physics, Graduate School of Science, The University of Tokyo in 2015 and received a Ph.D. in Physics. After serving, among other positions, as a RIKEN Hakubi Team Leader in the Cluster for Pioneering Research at RIKEN, he has been Associate Professor at the Institute for Physics of Intelligence, Graduate School of Science, The University of Tokyo since 2023 and, since 2025, Senior Research Scientist in Pioneering Research Institute at RIKEN (both current positions).

Her research field is geometric analysis, in particular geometry of metric measure spaces. She completed the doctoral program in the Mathematical Institute, Graduate School of Science, Tohoku University in 2010 and received a Ph.D. in Mathematics. After serving, among other positions, as Associate Professor at the Graduate School of Science, Tokyo Metropolitan University, she has been Professor at the Graduate School of Mathematical Sciences, The University of Tokyo since 2025 (her current position).

Dr. Ichiro Sakata is a Professor at the Graduate School of Engineering and the Special Assistant to the President of the University of Tokyo (UTokyo) in charge of UCI Vision Formation, Entrepreneurship Education Promotion, and Accountability. He also concurrently serves as Director of Collaborative Research Organization for Future Regional Society. He leads university-wide deep tech entrepreneurship education. Outside UTokyo, he serves as chairperson of the MEXT National Entrepreneurship Development Program, Special Advisor to Riken and Fellow at Daikin TIC.
His research fields include innovation management and computational social science. He received a M.A. from Brandeis University and a Ph.D. from UTokyo. He previously served as Special Advisor to the Minister of Reconstruction and was involved in shaping the reconstruction vision “New Tohoku.”