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Intelligence, Decoded and Designed

Spotlights

stylized image of a head, with writing and sound waves

News

Spring 2026 News from SQI

Automating developmental neuroscience studies, facilitating LLM "brainstorming" sessions, and studying how language is implemented in biological and artificial systems — check out recent news from SQI.

digits of pi in a spiral on a yellow background

Event

SCC workshop on Human Intelligence & AI

In January 2026, SQI participated in a Schwarzman College of Computing IAP workshop. Recordings are available on YouTube. 

Prof. Leslie Kaelbling mid-conversation in front of a table with robotics displayed

News

A New Name, A Continued Commitment

A recent major gift from the Siegel Family Endowment is enabling us to expand our research and activities, and we are now The MIT Siegel Family Quest for Intelligence. We celebrated on Nov. 24, at The Next Horizon: Quest's Future. Recordings of the talks and discussion are available.

CBMM logo

Our Roots

Center for Brains, Minds, and Machines

The Quest for Intelligence is built on the Foundations of CBMM, a multi-institutional NSF Science and Technology Center dedicated to the study of intelligence — how the brain produces intelligent behavior and how we may be able to replicate intelligence in machines.

Robot arm, attached to a table, is selecting and picking up blocks.

Research

Parallel-Planning

Quest Researchers have developed a new machine-learning algorithm for robot task planning that lets robots “think ahead” by evaluating thousands of possible ways to solve a task in parallel and refining them to meet the physical and geometric constraints of the robot and its environment. 

stylized image of a head, with writing and sound waves

News

Spring 2026 News from SQI

Automating developmental neuroscience studies, facilitating LLM "brainstorming" sessions, and studying how language is implemented in biological and artificial systems — check out recent news from SQI.

digits of pi in a spiral on a yellow background

Event

SCC workshop on Human Intelligence & AI

In January 2026, SQI participated in a Schwarzman College of Computing IAP workshop. Recordings are available on YouTube. 

Prof. Leslie Kaelbling mid-conversation in front of a table with robotics displayed

News

A New Name, A Continued Commitment

A recent major gift from the Siegel Family Endowment is enabling us to expand our research and activities, and we are now The MIT Siegel Family Quest for Intelligence. We celebrated on Nov. 24, at The Next Horizon: Quest's Future. Recordings of the talks and discussion are available.

CBMM logo

Our Roots

Center for Brains, Minds, and Machines

The Quest for Intelligence is built on the Foundations of CBMM, a multi-institutional NSF Science and Technology Center dedicated to the study of intelligence — how the brain produces intelligent behavior and how we may be able to replicate intelligence in machines.

Robot arm, attached to a table, is selecting and picking up blocks.

Research

Parallel-Planning

Quest Researchers have developed a new machine-learning algorithm for robot task planning that lets robots “think ahead” by evaluating thousands of possible ways to solve a task in parallel and refining them to meet the physical and geometric constraints of the robot and its environment. 

    Missions + Platforms

    To understand intelligence, the Quest fosters and funds research Missions, which are supported by Platforms.

    • Language and Thought

      The Language and Thought mission aims to understand the relationship between language and human intelligence. Read More

    • Perceptual Intelligence

      The Perceptual Intelligence mission aims  to produce machine executable models of human visual intelligence. Read More

    • Brain-Score

      The Brain-Score platform aims to yield accurate, machine-executable computational models of how the brain gives rise to the mind. Read More

    • Embodied Intelligence

      The Embodied Intelligence mission addresses how we perceive the world around us and integrate this information to plan and complete tasks. Read More

    • Cognitive Compute

      The Scaling Inference team pursues an alternate scaling route for AI systems and for human intelligence models, based on inference in probabilistic programs. Read More

    • Intelligence Observatory

      The Intelligence Observatory is a human behavioral testing and benchmarking platform. Read More

    • The Development of Intelligent Minds

      This mission aims to understand how children grasp new concepts and build upon layers of concepts to reach an understanding of the world. Read More

    See all Missions + Platforms »

    News

    • Recent news from SQI: April 2026

      From automating developmental neuroscience studies to facilitating LLM "brainstorming" sessions, this spring, the MIT Siegel Family Quest for Intelligence supported research across neuroscience, AI, and cognitive science that continues to push the boundaries of our understanding of both human and artificial intelligence.

    • Dr. Greta Tuckute: Bridging Neuroscience and AI using Language

      As a student, Greta Tuckute worked on language processing research in the EvLab. Now at Harvard's Kempner Institute, she studies how language is implemented in biological and artificial systems.

    • A Faster Way to Create Research Videos for Children

      MIT researchers develop automated pipeline that generates child-friendly audiovisual stimuli in minutes instead of weeks

    See all news »