About

I am a cognitive scientist. I study how brains and AIs think about what to do next.

With my work, I want to contribute to making sure that the AI systems that we build are robustly aligned to human interests. Understanding how intelligent systems represent the world and how they use that representation to plan their actions is a key part of ensuring the safety of AI systems.

My PhD work investigates agent-environment interactions during planning. Some of the things that we do in the world (such as rearranging things, feeling how heavy something is, or looking at a problem from different angles) make it easier for us to find solutions to difficult planning problems. How can we understand this in computational terms?
My approach is best described as computational cognitive science: trying to discover the high-level algorithms of cognition. In my research, I use agent-based simulations, computational models, and behavioral experiments.

In one project, I am exploring how the visual structure of the environment can guide planning. I also think about the models underlying physical understanding in humans and machines (and where they differ).

I’m currently a fifth (and final) year PhD student at the Department of Cognitive Science at UC San Diego. I work with Judith Fan (Stanford), David Kirsh (UCSD) and Marcelo Mattar (NYU).

I also work as a VJ and visual artist—find my artistic work at vj.felixbinder.net.

Find my resume and CV here.

Contact

Write me an email: me@felixbinder.met