Hi! I’m Ivy, a PhD student at MIT CSAIL where I am fortunate to be co-advised by Professor Phillip Isola and Professor Josh Tenenbaum. Previously, I had a wonderful experience working with Professor Guangyu Robert Yang at MIT on autonomous agents with real-time interaction.

My research interest lies in the intersection of AI and human intelligence, with a focus on AI that can simulate human-like intelligence and cognition. Something on my mind these days:

• World Model & Embodied Intelligence: Inspired by fabulous mental simulation capabilities in humans, I’m interested in how intelligent agents form good understandings of the world that support prediction, counterfactual reasoning, generalization and adaptation.
• Agentic System in Interactive Environment: I am interested in agentic systems that learn through interaction with an emphasis on long-horizon decision-making and autonomous behavior. I often use games as compact, controllable environments relevant to real-world deployment.
• Cognitive Science & Social Reasoning: How can insights from human cognition inform the design of human-like agents? I’m curious about the computational foundations of Theory-of-Mind to build AI agents that collaborate naturally with us.

I publish under the name “Kaiya Ivy Zhao”, where “Zhao” is my surname and “Kaiya” is the forename. “Ivy”(ai·vee) is the name I usually go by.

Outside the research, my world is filled with the vibrancy of musicals, the thrill of snowboarding, the companionship of cats and the wonder of travel. Each of these hobbies offers me a unique perspective on life and creativity.

Feel free to reach out via email to discuss research, collaborations, or schedule a chat!