It’s privileged to serve on the program committee for ICML 2025. my second time attending a conf at Vancouver Convention Centre, the last was NeurIPS 2019, right before the pandemic. Same venue, diff conf, and a diff time: the field has shifted from NLP to LLMs. What’s next?
ICML, along with ICLR and NeurIPS, is considered one of the top three conferences in machine learning. ICML thoughtfully added a “Reviewer” titled badge for those helping with paper reviews.
The venue was the Vancouver Convention Centre. The last time I was here was for NeurIPS 2019, right before pandemic. Although it's the same venue, the conference topics have shifted from NLP to LLMs.
Noticed that attendees, whether students job-hunting or companies and universities recruiting, were actively networking.
During ICML, I received DMs from several executives at different companies. Many mentioned they had read my blog "LLM Native Primitives: Next Golden Path". I'm happy that my sharing resonated and was recognized to some extent in the industry.
Some Numbers
Number of submitted and accepted papers: 12,468 submissions (32%+ 2024's 9,473); 3,333 accepted in total
Main track
12,107 submissions; 3,260 accepted (27%); 108 orals, 213 spotlights
155 senior area chairs; 1,133 area chairs; 10,733 reviewers
45,610 reviews
Position paper track
361 submissions; 73 accepted (20%); 12 orals, 12 spotlights
2 track chairs; 34 area chairs; 400 reviewers
1,333 reviews
Top 20 primary subject areas of accepted papers: deep learning: large language models shows 438 frequency.
Exhibitors Highlights
Amazon's booth was nicely done, maintaining the rainforest theme. We had T-shirts and two kinds of swag: corgis and bananas. On the first day, only corgis were left; on the second, only bananas, it seems visitor preferences changed daily. Every team member had research chats with various candidates, a great opportunity for students to learn about Amazon teams from the inside.
At the exhibit hall entrance, Jump Trading had a robotic arm coffee machine using Artly, a brand started by a couple from Seattle.
In M7: GDM (many came from London), Microsoft, Meta; others included IBM, Databricks, Netflix. Didn't see NVIDIA.
From China: Tencent (with lots of 🐧plushies), ByteDance, Huawei. Alibaba didn’t attend.
After Hour Events (By Invitation)
List the events I was invited to, unfortunately, I had to miss most part of them due to limited bandwidth and scheduling conflicts.
Anyscale: Invited by co-founder Robert Nishihara. The event was in a bar. We discussed the growing importance of online data quality.
Y Combinator Lunch: Held at the “Five Sails”, very upscale. Many people were not ICML attendees but came to pitch projects, seek funding, or find co-founders. Had a long conversation with Pete Koomen (General Partner of YC). Initially, we were listening to a PhD student’s project on a LLM-native programming language. I later debated whether programming would even be needed in the future, or modules like that. Multiple drink options and refined desserts. Ran into the founder of Ollama, who invited me to their product’s 2nd anniversary.
Perplexity HH Bistro Night: Great vibes and well organized.
Turing x Anyscale: Co-hosted event.
MIT E14 Fund: Later ran into the organizer at the YC event.
机器之心 Banquet: Held at the Hyatt. More business-oriented, well-staffed, lots of attendees. There was a photo booth with a dedicated photographer. Even if you arrived late, waitstaff could bring out food.
Events I Knew About But Didn’t Register
Amazon AGI SF lab after hours.
Huawei and Tencent cruises, shows how actively Chinese companies are expanding abroad, and also the large talent pool of fresh grads from Chinese universities.
Cursor, OAI etc.
P.S. Vancouver felt hotter than Seattle.
很荣幸能在 ICML 2025 担任程序委员会成员。这是我第二次在温哥华会议中心参加会议，上一次是 2019 年的 NeurIPS，就在疫情之前。同样的场馆，不同的会议，也是不同的时代：领域已经从 NLP 转向了 LLM。下一个是什么？
ICML 与 ICLR、NeurIPS 并称机器学习三大顶级会议。ICML 很贴心地为参与论文评审的人准备了带 "Reviewer" 头衔的胸牌。
会场是温哥华会议中心。上一次来这里是 2019 年的 NeurIPS，就在疫情之前。场馆没变，但会议主题已经从 NLP 转向了 LLM。
注意到参会者都在积极社交——无论是找工作的学生，还是招人的公司与高校。
ICML 期间，我收到了几家公司高管的私信。不少人提到读过我的博客 "LLM Native Primitives: Next Golden Path"。很高兴我的分享引起了共鸣，并在业界获得了一定认可。
一些数字
投稿与录用论文数：12,468 篇投稿（比 2024 年的 9,473 篇增长 32%+）；共录用 3,333 篇
主赛道
12,107 篇投稿；录用 3,260 篇（27%）；108 篇 oral，213 篇 spotlight
155 位资深领域主席；1,133 位领域主席；10,733 位审稿人
45,610 份评审
立场论文赛道
361 篇投稿；录用 73 篇（20%）；12 篇 oral，12 篇 spotlight
2 位赛道主席；34 位领域主席；400 位审稿人
1,333 份评审
录用论文的前 20 个主要主题领域中，deep learning: large language models 出现频次达 438。
展商亮点
亚马逊的展位布置得很不错，延续了雨林主题。我们准备了 T 恤和两种周边：柯基和香蕉。第一天只剩柯基，第二天只剩香蕉，看来参观者的喜好每天都在变。每位团队成员都与不同候选人进行了研究交流，对学生来说，这是从内部了解亚马逊各团队的好机会。
展厅入口处，Jump Trading 摆了一台使用 Artly 的机械臂咖啡机——这个品牌由一对来自西雅图的夫妇创立。
M7 里来了：GDM（很多人来自伦敦）、微软、Meta；其他还有 IBM、Databricks、Netflix。没有看到 NVIDIA。
来自中国的：腾讯（带了很多🐧毛绒玩具）、字节跳动、华为。阿里巴巴没有参展。
会后活动（邀请制）
列一下我收到邀请的活动。可惜由于精力有限和日程冲突，大部分都只能错过。
Anyscale：联合创始人 Robert Nishihara 邀请。活动在一家酒吧举行，我们讨论了在线数据质量日益增长的重要性。
Y Combinator 午餐会：在非常高档的 "Five Sails" 举行。很多人并不是 ICML 参会者，而是来推介项目、寻求融资或寻找联合创始人的。与 Pete Koomen（YC 合伙人）聊了很久。起初我们在听一位博士生讲他的 LLM 原生编程语言项目，后来我抛出了一个议题：未来是否还需要编程，或者类似的模块。多种酒水选择和精致甜点。偶遇了 Ollama 的创始人，他邀请我参加他们产品的两周年活动。
Perplexity HH Bistro 之夜：氛围很棒，组织得当。
Turing x Anyscale：联合主办的活动。
MIT E14 Fund：后来在 YC 活动上偶遇了主办方。
机器之心晚宴：在 Hyatt 举行。更偏商务，人手充足，参加者众多。现场有专属摄影师的拍照区。即使到得晚，服务生也会把餐食端上来。
知道但没报名的活动
Amazon AGI SF lab 的会后活动。
华为和腾讯的游轮活动——可见中国公司在海外扩张的活跃程度，以及中国高校应届毕业生庞大的人才储备。
Cursor、OAI 等。
附：温哥华比西雅图还热。