Where to submit stat/prob ML [D]
Heat trend
The percentage is based on available heat signal, not comment count or independent people.
A researcher in statistical and probabilistic ML, with a strong publication record, notes a significant shift in top ML conferences. They observe that LLM-based works have largely dominated events like ICLR and NeurIPS workshops in recent years. The researcher recounts that at ICLR, finding a non-LLM paper was rare, and NeurIPS workshops were similarly focused on agents. This trend suggests that top conferences, while prestigious, may no longer be the primary venue for probabilistic and statistical ML research.
I'm a researcher in statistical and probabilistic ML, I have a steady record of top ML publications and really used to enjoy going to conferences.
Over the last few years LLM based works have completely taken over the top conferences. At this year's ICLR, walking among the rows of posters you were lucky to find one paper per row of 10 that wasn't about how their favourite LLM could or couldn't solve their niche benchmark. The workshops tell the same story, most are some kind of agentic flavour. Looking at this year's NeurIPS workshops it's the same thing, basically all are about agents.
I'm wondering where do the stat/prob ML communities go from here? I look up to people like Arnaud Doucet, Aapo Hyvärinen, Christian Naesseth, Stefano Ermon, they seem to still publish at the top 3? On my end, I m thinking AISTATS/UAI might be the way to go.
All in all, the top 3 might never really have been intended as the home for prob/statML works, it just happened to be the 'prestigious' venue.