DeepRAP: Deep Reasoning, Abstraction & Planning towards trustworthy Cognitive AI Systems
Artificial Intelligence (AI) systems have achieved remarkable progress as evidenced by the ability of Generative AI to recognise patterns and generate contextually relevant outputs based on ever larger models and associated datasets. However, despite the remarkable strides made over the past decade, there remains a significant gap between the capabilities of the human brain and machine intelligence, which must be overcome to achieve robust performance and enable effective interactions with users and stakeholders.
Current Generative AI models can release very accurate outputs and even solve some mathematical problems but might struggle with some complex reasoning benchmarks and to understand the real world. These models frequently fail to reliably solve logic tasks and long-term planning, even when provably correct solutions exist, limiting their effectiveness in critical applications where precision is essential.
Inspired by the human brain’s ability to process information at multiple levels of abstraction—enabling perception, reasoning, and goal-directed planning—the goal of this Challenge is to move beyond the current state-of-the-art in traditional AI approaches, whether symbolic (e.g. rules, decision trees, symbolic regression, etc.) or connectionist, neural (e.g. deep learning, large language models, reinforcement learning). The goal is to significantly improve the Reasoning, Abstraction, and Planning (RAP) capabilities of AI systems.
This will overcome the limitations of current deep learning models, which despite their strengths, have limitations in critical cognitive functions for abstraction, contextualisation, causality, explainability, and intelligible reasoning — competencies that are fundamental to move towards human-like intelligence.
The resulting portfolio will not only advance the scientific state-of-the-art but also build a robust, interoperable, and application-driven community, positioning Europe at the forefront of trustworthy cognitive AI. It should also lay the foundations for future European leadership in safe, human-centric cognitive AI, supporting sovereignty and competitiveness in key sectors. It will support the ambitions of the AI Act[[https://digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/news/commission-launches-ai-innovation-package-support-artificial-intelligence-startups-and-smes]] and the European approach to Artificial Intelligence[[ https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_24_383 150 AI Act | Shaping Europe’s digital future (europa.eu)]].