The main IJCAI2019 conference started on August 13th. The organizers gave the opening remarks and statistics, and announced the award winners for this year.

The Opening Ceremony

#ijcai2019 opening https://t.co/ybQI1tijLS pic.twitter.com/hPTWVco1ZS

— tamura🍺 (@y7amura) August 13, 2019

Let the fun begin. #ijcai2019 @IJCAIconf pic.twitter.com/jma4pojQiG

— Rui Maranhao (@rmaranhao) August 13, 2019

It’s the start of #ijcai2019 in Macau. I was last here 22 years ago, and it’s nice to be back. Over the next 2-3 days I’m hoping to post a few links and descriptions of the exciting search work my students and colleagues will be presenting here. pic.twitter.com/BITqFR9hiM

— Nathan Sturtevant ✈️ (@nathansttt) August 13, 2019

#ijcai2019 starts with a great tiger dance! pic.twitter.com/A894dolK0n

— Ashish Kulkarni (@kulashish) August 13, 2019

#IJCAI2019 has started off with a bang 😃 pic.twitter.com/7m3hVVMwEj

— Tathagata (@tchakra2) August 13, 2019

IJCAI2019 numbers

#ijcai2019 @IJCAIconf #ijcai numbers pic.twitter.com/7iQ576aRTe

— Oktie H. (@oktie) August 13, 2019

Special track

Proud of @_JSchaeffer for organizing and chairing #ijcai2019 Special Track on the #AI for Improving Human Wellbeing – critically essential research area for #humanity https://t.co/Uy7LT9DYEm #Canadian #innovation #leadership #cdnpse

— JGSchaeffer (@JGSchaeffer) August 13, 2019

Some of the IJCAI2019 Awards

Congratulations @frossi_t for winning the IJCAI Distinguished Service Award! https://t.co/R82K8IJK6T

— Marie desJardins (@mariedj17) July 26, 2019

Amedeo Cesta @cesta_rome awarded by @BarryOSullivan with #EurAI fellowship in Macau during @IJCAIconf great honour for a great researcher @StampaCnr @cnr_istc @AI_x_IA pic.twitter.com/EhLCLOeoTJ

— PST@ISTC-CNR (@CNRPst) August 13, 2019

Super proud that our paper got distinguished paper honorable mention today @IJCAIconf #ijcai2019 😁. Link to the paper – https://t.co/Pt7dploKl7 pic.twitter.com/nnKR8YLOsy

— Sri Krishna (@skrish_13) August 13, 2019

Talks
“Doing for robots what Evolution did for us” by Leslie Kaelbling.

Official opening session of #IJCAI2019 is over.

1000+ people listening to Leslie Kaelbling, MIT, now: keynote: "Doing for our robots what evolution did for us"

There is no single strategy for designing a general-purpose #robot but more & from different fields#AI @IJCAIconf pic.twitter.com/h1dCciWHvj

— Dagmar Monett (@dmonett) August 13, 2019

“Human-level intelligence or animal-like abilities” by Adnan Darwiche.

#ijcai2019 #day4 invited talk on ‘Reasoning about the Behavior of AI Systems' by Adnan Darwiche (UCLA) – Ijcai2019 at Cotai Expo in the Venetian Macau에서 https://t.co/fuUNU5lGqx

— Woontack Woo (우운택) (@wwoo_ct) August 13, 2019

Now live from the @IJCAIconf on #artificialintelligence "Reasoning About the Behavior of AI Systems", a talk given by Adnan Darwich. https://t.co/CIQ2MLsb6X pic.twitter.com/PZFzIxovXg

— IJCAIconf (@IJCAIconf) August 13, 2019

In his 2019 IJCAI-JAIR Best Paper Prize talk, Matti Järvisalo nicely emphasises the enormous impact of automated reasoning in #AI and beyond and shines a bright light on one of #AI's largest intellectual and commercial successes to date. pic.twitter.com/3RehpA9HCM

— Holger Hoos (@HolgerHoos) August 13, 2019

Diversity in AI panel discussion

Thanks to panelists Edith Elkind, @pascalefung, @frossi_t, @siminyu_kat, and @TobyWalsh for a lively and stimulating panel on #diversity in #AI #ijcai2019. Lots of great ideas for ways to increase diversity, equity, and inclusion of many underrepresented groups! pic.twitter.com/cnxJxZeP46

— Marie desJardins (@mariedj17) August 13, 2019

What can be done to CHANGE the current unfortunate issues of #diversity (not only but especially) in #AI?

A lot!! 👇#IJCAI2019 @IJCAIconf pic.twitter.com/BtVBSwSsHW

— Dagmar Monett (@dmonett) August 13, 2019

Demos and booths
Demos and booths of different companies took place next to different poster sessions.

@Sony is the main sponsor of #IJCAI2019. We are preparing our booth now. 👷 pic.twitter.com/fQYLltw56U

— Naoya Takahashi (@zuNaoya) August 12, 2019

Our fearless leaders @casey_dugan @dinahtravels Jim and Shirin in full force at the @IBMResearch booth at #IJCAI2019 🙇
https://t.co/Sm9BNbZHLQ pic.twitter.com/Z4RXoy5R5R

— Tathagata (@tchakra2) August 13, 2019

Paper presentation sessions were happening at the same time in other venues.

Robot challenge

Why buying a #robot when you can #doityourself !#robotchallenge @ #ijcai2019 pic.twitter.com/3ml3S6UsyI

— Daniele Di Mitri (@dimstudi0) August 13, 2019

Stay tuned as I’ll be covering the conference as an AIhub ambassador.