The whole “AI2Reason” thing can be traced back to the coincidence that Zihao, who I know by chance but also who taught me so much, points me to the course@UofT: CSC2547HS Winter 2023 Automated Reasoning with Machine Learning in Apr 2023. It was the very time that ChatGPT became extremely famous and people who tried to find their weaknesses started talking about their “reasoning ability” and “hallucination”. I decided to get a sense of this magic word “reasoning” by taking it as the central investigation subject of the summer of 2023. Then I was largely affected by the workshop Machine Assisted Proofs @UCLA organized by Terence Tao I found during the investigation, which happened in Mar 2023. I’m also largely affected by the article AI and the Structure of Reasoning. Although it looks primitive when looking back now, it’s still the best article I know that introduces you to the magic world of “reasoning”.

In the fall of 2023, I luckily found the uniquely amazing course is offered (the last offering was 10 years ago): CHP 395: Thinking and Reasoning @UIUC where Prof. John Hummel and Prof. Jonathan Livengood brought my understanding of the magic word, “reasoning”, to the context of the philosophy of science and cognitive psychology. At the same time, I was introduced by Zihao to Dylan, who happens to be Talia’s student and Talia happens to be interested in the whole Machine Assisted Proofs thing. I started as a research assistant and worked with Dylan on a project on recursive reasoning. And now, in a basement in a suburban area of Canada, along with a warm hearth and white snow outside, I finalized my research proposal that I’m going to lead and perfectly fit in my framework of AI2Reason. I wonder where will this journey go…

Looking back on this year, I found so many coincidences on my path here and I feel lucky and thankful for meeting all the people that supported me this year. I shall specifically thank my friends Matheart for supporting me all the way here and Leo Luo and Yanzhen Shen for being there for me whenever I ask for feedback.