From the 30th of November to the 3rd of December 2026, the African Institute for Mathematical Sciences (AIMS), in Cape Town, South Africa, will host the 2nd AIMS Workshop on The Theory of Quantum Learning Algorithms. This is the 2nd edition of this workshop series. The website for the first edition, held in 2025, can be found here.
The workshop will be split into morning and afternoon sessions. Each morning will consist of three one-hour talks from invited workshop speakers, aimed at disseminating recent state-of-the-art results, exploring connections to closely related fields, and formulating important open questions and topics for future research and collaborations among participants. The afternoon sessions will be left free to provide space for collaboration and informal presentations.
The last decade has witnessed incredible progress in the development of classical algorithms for machine learning, which have revolutionised all aspects of society. Similarly, the last decade has also seen significant progress in both the theory and realisation of quantum computers. Given these developments, a natural and important question is: To what extent can quantum learning algorithms offer meaningful advantages for learning problems?
Simultaneously, it has also been increasingly appreciated that there exist a wide variety of genuinely quantum learning problems, such as learning unknown quantum states or processes. Understanding the extent to which one can develop quantum learning algorithms for these problems is both fundamentally interesting and practically important, both for better understanding the world around us, and for facilitating the development and verification of quantum technologies.
Finally, there has always been a rich history of interplay between cryptography and learning theory. Contuining this tradition, recent advances in quantm learning theory have given rise to new directions in quantum cryptography and vice versa. Exploring and developing these connections promises fruitful insights in both fields.
Unlike the classical setting, in which the vast majority of machine learning research is done through incredibly large-scale experiments, the limitations of current generation quantum computers necessitates the use of theory to develop our understanding of answers to the above questions. As such, this workshop and school will be focused on the theory and mathematical foundations of quantum learning algorithms, for both quantum and classical learning problems, with an additional focus on relations to closely related topics such as cryptography. Example topics of interest include:
The following speakers have been confirmed:
More to be announced shortly!
Workshop talks are by invitation only.
The event will be held at the African Institute for Mathematical Sciences (AIMS), which is located in Muizenberg, Cape Town, steps away from the famous "Surfers Corner" beach. The event will be held from Monday 30th of November 2026, until Thursday 3rd of December 2026.
Jose Carrasco (Freie Universität Berlin)
Elies Gil Fuster (Freie Universität Berlin)
Ryan Sweke (African Institute for Mathematical Sciences)
Endorsed by
