AI Matters: our blog

Shlomo Zilberstein (2025 Autonomous Agents Research Award)
The selection committee for the ACM/SIGAI Autonomous Agents Research Award is pleased to announce that Professor Shlomo Zilberstein is the recipient of the 2025 award. Shlomo Zilberstein is Professor of Computer Science and former Associate Dean of Research at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. His work established the field of decentralized Markov Decision Processes (DEC-MDPs), laying the groundwork for decision-theoretic planning in multi-agent systems and multi-agent reinforcement learning (MARL). These contributions have become a cornerstone of multi-agent decision-making, influencing researchers and practitioners alike. A Fellow of AAAI and the ACM, Professor Zilberstein has received numerous awards, including the UMass Chancellor’s Medal, the IFAAMAS Influential Paper Award, and the AAAI Distinguished Service Award.


Catholijn Jonker (2024 Autonomous Agents Research Award)
The selection committee for the ACM/SIGAI Autonomous Agents Research Award is pleased to announce that Professor Catholijn Jonker is the recipient of the 2024 award. Professor Catholijn Jonker is full professor of Interactive Intelligence at the Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Mathematics, and Computer Science of the Delft University of Technology. Professor Jonker is a leader in the field of human-machine interaction, in particular regarding modeling the cognitive processes and concepts involved in negotiation and teamwork. Professor Jonker initiated the Automated Negotiating Agents Competition at AAMAS and IJCAI. She has also contributed to other research domains such as integrating interactive intelligence for hybrid intelligent systems. She is also very active in advancing research into value-sensitive and responsible AI. She is very much involved in promoting women in academic positions. She chaired the Network of Female Professors. She is a role model for many young researchers. Her research is highly visible and praised. Professor Jonker received numerous awards. She was the past President of IFAAMAS.

ACM/SIGAI Autonomous Agents Research Award Now Accepting Applications
We are happy to announce that the call for the 2024 ACM SIGAI Autonomous Agents Research Award is now available at the main award page here: https://sigai.acm.org/main/the-acm-sigai-autonomous-agents-research-award/
This award is made for excellence in research in the area of autonomous agents. It is intended to recognize researchers in autonomous agents whose current work is an important influence on the field. The award is an official ACM award, funded by an endowment created by ACM SIGAI from the proceeds of previous Autonomous Agents conferences. The recipient of the award will receive a monetary prize and a certificate, and will be invited to present a plenary talk at the AAMAS 2024 conference.
For more information please see the call here: https://sigai.acm.org/main/the-acm-sigai-autonomous-agents-research-award/
ACM SIGAI 2023 Industry Award Now Accepting Applications
We are happy to announce that the call for the ACM SIGAI 2023 Industry Award is now available at the main Industry Award page here: https://sigai.acm.org/main/acm-sigai-industry-award/
The ACM SIGAI Industry Award for Excellence in Artificial Intelligence (AI) will be given annually to individuals or teams who have transferred original academic research into AI applications in recent years in ways that demonstrate the power of AI techniques via a combination of the following features: originality of the research novelty and technical excellence of the approach; importance of AI techniques to the approach; and actual or predicted societal impact of the application. Awardees receive a plaque accompanied by a prize of $5,000, and will be recognized at the International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence through an agreement with the IJCAI Board of Trustees.
For more information please see the call here: https://sigai.acm.org/main/acm-sigai-industry-award/
Edith Elkind is the Winner of 2023 ACM/SIGAI Autonomous Agents Research Award
The selection committee for the ACM/SIGAI Autonomous Agents Research Award is pleased to announce that Professor Edith Elkind is the recipient of the 2023 award. Edith Elkind is a Professor of Computer Science at the University of Oxford.
For details click here.