Professor Laurent Itti from the University of Southern California has been elected as an Academician of the World Academy of Artificial Consciousness (WAAC)

We are pleased to announce that Professor Laurent Itti, a professor of Computer Science, Psychology, and Neuroscience at the University of Southern California (USC), has been elected as an academician of the World Academy for Artificial Consciousness (WAAC) for his pioneering contributions to computational models of visual saliency and attention.

Professor Itti’s research, starting from biological visual mechanisms, proposed and developed the “saliency map” theory and bottom-up attention models, which have had a wide impact on fields such as computer vision, robotics, and human-computer interaction. His work has also advanced the exploration of computational mechanisms and interpretable pathways for “machine consciousness.”

• Global Collaboration and Academic Ecosystem

The Academicians of WAAC come from universities and research institutions such as Harvard University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the University of Cambridge, the University of California, the French Academy of Sciences, the University of Padua, the University of Queensland, Columbia University, and the University of Exeter, among others. Honorary Academicians represent multiple countries and regions, including the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, Sweden, Canada, Australia, Spain, and China. Additionally, leading scientists from renowned research institutions and technology companies—such as Google, the Allen Institute for Brain Science, and Zeekr—are also involved.

• About WAAC

The World Academy for Artificial Consciousness (https://www.waac.ac/) is a global academic institution established in Paris in 2025. Its mission is to advance frontier research and international collaboration in artificial consciousness through the integration of science, technology, and philosophy. The Academy publishes open research, policy recommendations, evaluation standards, and more. The current President is Academician Yucong Duan, and the Secretary-General is Dr. Yingbo Li. The Honorary Academician List: On May 3, 2025, WAAC released its first batch of Top 100 Honorary Academicians, recognizing scholars who have made foundational or leading contributions to the theory of artificial consciousness.