- Name of the Section: Bayesian AI, abbreviated as BayesAI, Section of ISBA.
- The primary purpose of the Section is to foster interaction and collaboration between the Bayesian statistics and AI communities and promote the research, application, and dissemination of Bayesian inference in machine learning and AI. To this end, the Section shall:
- Facilitate interactions between Bayesian statistics and AI.
- Promote Bayesian principles and ideas within deep learning and AI.
- Support research, application, dissemination, education, and collaboration in Bayesian AI by organizing section workshops, as well as organizing and endorsing sessions in other conferences, workshops, webinars, short courses across the two communities. Support researchers through travel support and prizes (funded by income from the Bayesian Deep Learning book, co-authored by the community).
- Support research to scale Bayesian methods so that they meet the needs of contemporary large-scale AI models, and to use the Bayesian paradigm beyond inference, towards reasoning, decision-making and online learning.
- Foster the availability of Bayesian methods through the development of software packages.
- The offices, duties and terms of offices:
- The offices are those of Chair-Elect, Chair, Past-Chair, Program Chair, Treasurer, and Secretary. These officers form the Executive Committee of the BayesAI Section.
- The Program Chair, Treasurer, and Secretary are elected by the membership for two-year terms. The Chair is elected for a 3-year term, serving successively as Chair-Elect, Chair, and Past-Chair.
- Procedure for electing section officers:
Officers are elected every year, concurrently with the annual ISBA elections. The Section Nominating Committee has five members: two Section Executive Committee members, whose offices are up for election that year, and three Section members; these three members are chosen by the Section Executive Committee following solicitation of names and consultation with the Section membership. The Chair of the Section Nominating Committee will be appointed by the Section Executive Committee among the three members selected from the Section Membership. The term for all officers starts on January 1 following the election.
- Procedure for making decisions:
The Section Chair chairs meetings of the Executive Committee and the Section Membership. The duties of the secretary, treasurer and program chair are as described in item 4.B through D of the ISBA constitution, but restricted to the section. The BayesAI Executive Committee shall report to the ISBA Board at each Board meeting.
- Procedure for modifying dues:
Any change to membership dues is to be approved by the Board by 15 November in any year in order to have effect from the following January.
- Method of amendment of the bylaws:
The Section Bylaws may be amended by majority vote in two successive Board meetings, with at least a two-week interval between the meetings.
- How membership in the section is defined:
Any ISBA member who pays the section membership fee is a member of the Section.