# AGI at GWU

> AGI at GWU is a research community at GW, working hands-on with AI and thinking through its big-picture implications. We meet Wednesdays, 5:00–6:00 PM, on GW's Foggy Bottom campus. All events are free.

AI is getting better much faster than researchers are adopting it. The cost of reaching a given level of AI performance is [falling about 13× per year](https://epoch.ai/publications/the-plunging-price-of-thought), but many of us have settled into working with it for human-sized code, stats, and figures. That opens a growing gap between what we're working on and what AI can do.

We think there's far more on the table. AGI at GWU is a local, AI-native research community built around an AGI mentality: AI is already good enough to transform research, and it keeps getting better. We see two bottlenecks, and we meet on Wednesdays to work on both:

- **Adoption:** Claude Science workshops, led by Claude Campus Ambassador Riley Leff, give newcomers a fast, supported path to working hands-on with AI.
- **Ambition:** Frontier Talks invite researchers who are pushing the boundaries of their field with AI to share their ideas and workflows. The human path and the AI path to a field's goals might be different, and the AI path may already be shorter. We hope to find patterns that emerge across fields and spark big-picture discussions about our research.

This is a research community, but we define "researcher" broadly. We welcome people across all disciplines, roles, and experience levels.

## Upcoming events

- [Joe Hanly On The Frontier: Evolutionary Genomics](https://www.agigwu.com/talks/joe-hanly-evolutionary-genomics): Frontier Talk, Wednesday, October 28, 2026, 5:00–6:00 PM, Room TBA, Foggy Bottom campus. Speaker: Joe Hanly (Evolutionary Genomics). Welcome to Frontier Talks! We have Joe Hanly on where evolutionary genomics is headed, and how AI is changing his work.
- [Claude Science Workshop 2: Vision](https://www.agigwu.com/workshops/vision): Claude Science Workshop, Wednesday, November 4, 2026, 5:00–6:00 PM, Room TBA, Foggy Bottom campus. You sent in your biggest computer vision problems: let's see what Claude can do with them! I'll briefly cover a few approaches to computer vision and [the bitter lesson](http://www.incompleteideas.net/IncIdeas/BitterLesson.html), then we'll put Claude to work on a few of your problems to see what's possible.
- [Frontier Talk 2: TBA](https://www.agigwu.com/talks/frontier-talk-2): Frontier Talk, Wednesday, November 11, 2026, 5:00–6:00 PM, Room TBA, Foggy Bottom campus. Speaker TBA.
- [Claude Science Workshop 3: TBA](https://www.agigwu.com/workshops/workshop-3): Claude Science Workshop, Wednesday, November 18, 2026, 5:00–6:00 PM, Room TBA, Foggy Bottom campus. Topic coming soon.
- [Frontier Talk 3: TBA](https://www.agigwu.com/talks/frontier-talk-3): Frontier Talk, Wednesday, December 2, 2026, 5:00–6:00 PM, Room TBA, Foggy Bottom campus. Speaker TBA.
- [Claude Science Workshop 4: TBA](https://www.agigwu.com/workshops/workshop-4): Claude Science Workshop, Wednesday, December 9, 2026, 5:00–6:00 PM, Room TBA, Foggy Bottom campus. Topic coming soon.
- [Claude Science Workshop 5: TBA](https://www.agigwu.com/workshops/workshop-5): Claude Science Workshop, Wednesday, January 13, 2027, 5:00–6:00 PM, Room TBA, Foggy Bottom campus. Topic coming soon.
- [Frontier Talk 4: TBA](https://www.agigwu.com/talks/frontier-talk-4): Frontier Talk, Wednesday, January 20, 2027, 5:00–6:00 PM, Room TBA, Foggy Bottom campus. Speaker TBA.
- [Claude Science Workshop 6: TBA](https://www.agigwu.com/workshops/workshop-6): Claude Science Workshop, Wednesday, January 27, 2027, 5:00–6:00 PM, Room TBA, Foggy Bottom campus. Topic coming soon.
- [Frontier Talk 5: TBA](https://www.agigwu.com/talks/frontier-talk-5): Frontier Talk, Wednesday, February 3, 2027, 5:00–6:00 PM, Room TBA, Foggy Bottom campus. Speaker TBA.

## Past events

- [Claude Science Workshop 1: Hello World!](https://www.agigwu.com/workshops/hello-world): Claude Science Workshop, Wednesday, October 21, 2026, 5:00–6:00 PM, Science & Engineering Hall, Room 8750 (Greenhouse Lab). Say hi to Claude! At our first workshop, we'll get everyone set up and investigate an interesting genome with Claude Science.

## How Frontier Talks work

Riley informally interviews speakers, and we invite audience members to ask their own questions as we go. These are given in a casual setting, and speakers are invited to share some visuals without dressing it up as much as a fancy talk. These are intended for a smart, curious general audience and shouldn't require domain expertise to follow along.

Every speaker gets the same questions:

1. What's the broadest field you'd be comfortable calling yourself an expert in?
2. Why does your field exist?
3. What is your field responsible for delivering to the world?
4. What do you love about it?
5. What would it mean for your field to be solved?
6. How did your field get to where it is now?
7. Why isn't it solved yet? What are the bottlenecks?
8. How is AI changing it? What would still block you after AGI?
9. How do you feel about it, honestly?
10. What are you building or working on now?

## FAQ

### What does AGI mean?

Artificial General Intelligence: world-changing AI. Nobody agrees on exactly where the line is, but we think transformative AI is already here.

### Who can come?

Anyone at GW: undergrads, grad students, postdocs, faculty, and staff.

### Am I really a researcher?

If you're reading this, yes.

### Do I need to know how to code?

No. Workshops start from zero and build up. Talks are aimed at a general academic audience.

### Does it cost anything?

No. All events are free.

### Do I need a Claude account or subscription to attend a workshop?

Not to start. Newcomers get some free Claude credits after attending their first Claude Science workshop. Just bring a laptop.

### When and where?

Wednesdays, 5:00–6:00 PM. Room TBA, Foggy Bottom campus.

### Which GW email should I use?

Any of them. @gwu.edu, @gwmail.gwu.edu, and @email.gwu.edu all sign in to the same account.

### Can I give a Frontier Talk?

We'd love to hear from you. Send a note through the mailbag and pick "Idea". We prioritize experienced researchers who are already working with AI, and expect most presenters to be postdocs or professors, though we make exceptions for exceptional presenters.

### Who runs this?

Riley Leff, Aidan Brown, Joe Hanly, and Luca Livraghi.

### Are you affiliated with Anthropic?

No. AGI at GWU is an independent community at GW. Anthropic sponsors Riley as a Claude Campus Ambassador, and we host Riley's Claude Science workshops. Views expressed by AGI at GWU and its members are our own and don't necessarily reflect those of Anthropic.

## Pages

- [Frontier Talks](https://www.agigwu.com/talks)
- [Claude Science Workshops](https://www.agigwu.com/workshops)
- [Calendar](https://www.agigwu.com/calendar) (subscribe: https://www.agigwu.com/calendar.ics)
- [Showcase](https://www.agigwu.com/showcase): claim a slot to share something at a workshop
- [Mailbag](https://www.agigwu.com/mailbag): send us something you saw in AI
- [People](https://www.agigwu.com/people)
- [About and FAQ](https://www.agigwu.com/about)
- [Register](https://www.agigwu.com/register): join and get on the email list

Contact: hello@agigwu.com