Cryptography and Machine Learning 2027 Winter School
The Winter School on Cryptography and Machine Learning returns for its second edition, organized by Bocconi University with the support of Fondazione Cariplo. It will take place in Milan on January 25-28, 2027.
The School will bring together researchers in cryptography, theoretical computer science, machine learning, security and AI safety.
The program will combine foundational and advanced lectures by leading international researchers. The principal objectives are to give participants a coherent view of this fast-moving field, create opportunities for collaborations, and identify concrete open problems.
Assumed background of participants:
The School is open to researchers at all career stages, from Master’s and PhD students to postdocs and faculty, as well as to participants from industry and anyone with an interest in this area.
Participants should have a solid background in undergraduate-level mathematics (linear algebra, probability, discrete mathematics). Prior experience in both cryptography and machine learning is not required, but familiarity with at least one of the two areas will be helpful.
School’s content:
The school will cover a broad range of topics at the intersection of cryptography and machine learning, including, but not limited to:
1. Secure computation over models, privacy, and machine unlearning.
2. Watermarking and steganography in generative models.
3. Adversarial machine learning, robustness, and backdoors.
4. Cryptography for AI safety and agentic systems.
The objective of this school is to provide an in-depth introduction to recent developments in these areas, which together form a young and rapidly growing field. Lectures will range from foundational questions to state-of-the-art techniques and open problems, with a focus on how cryptographic thinking can provide rigorous guarantees for the security, privacy, and safety of modern AI systems.
Organizers: Jeff Champion (Bocconi), Valerio Cini (Bocconi), Mariana Gama (Bocconi), Paul Lou (Bocconi), Giulio Malavolta (Bocconi), Tamer Mour (AI4I), Emmanuela Orsini (Bocconi), Alon Rosen (Bocconi)
