AI/ML, Optimization and EDA in the TILOS AI Research Institute

Optimization means finding the best possible solution to a given problem -- but challenges of scale and complexity keep many real-world optimization needs beyond reach. The Institute for Learning-enabled Optimization at Scale (TILOS) is a new National AI Research Institute led by UC San Diego in partnership with MIT, National University, Penn, UT Austin and Yale. TILOS is sponsored by the U.S. National Science Foundation, with partial support from Intel Corporation. The TILOS mission: make impossible optimizations possible, at scale and in practice. This talk introduces TILOS, its research agenda, and how it aims to establish a "national nexus" of AI and machine learning, optimization, and use domains that include integrated-circuit design and design automation. The talk will point out directions along which the interplay of learning and optimization can boost the scaling and quality of EDA outcomes.