Six Months of CosmicAI: A Look Back and Ahead with CosmicAI PI and Director, Dr. Stella Offner

Dr. Stella Offner delivers a talk marking CosmicAI’s six-month anniversary, reflecting on our progress to date and the path ahead. She shares the vision that inspired our founding and outlines our mission: to harness AI in transforming how we analyze astronomical data, observe the universe, and accelerate the scientific process.

In the talk, Dr. Offner highlights our core focus areas—developing trustworthy and efficient AI tools, improving interpretability, and building infrastructure to support open, collaborative science.

She also reviews key milestones from our first six months, including early-stage research efforts, community engagement, and educational programs designed to build AI literacy within the astronomy community. Looking forward, she discusses plans to expand interdisciplinary training and foster broader understanding of AI’s role in enabling discovery.

Dr. Offner closes by surveying the current landscape of AI in astronomy and outlining CosmicAI’s ongoing efforts to secure funding, grow partnerships, and support advocacy and educational initiatives that promote the responsible and impactful use of AI in the field.

Link to presentation here