ML Conference Cannot Cancel Nonexistent Author’s Oral; Bylaws Require His Signature

VANCOUVER— The organizing committee of the 2026 International Machine Learning Symposium announced Friday it would not rescind two oral presentation slots awarded to researchers who do not exist, citing bylaws requiring that any paper withdrawal be initiated by an author.

The papers — a 53-page study on sparse attention mechanisms and a 40-page survey of grounding techniques — were accepted following double-blind peer review by three reviewers each. A subsequent investigation found that four of the six reviewers also could not be located in any academic registry. Two of the remaining four confirmed they did not review the papers.

The conference’s Ethics and Integrity Task Force, convened Tuesday, is scheduled to meet for the first time in November. One of its nine members withdrew Wednesday after questions arose about her own publication record. Her replacement was drawn from the same volunteer reviewer pool currently under review.

The opening keynote — a 40-minute address titled "Toward Verifiable Intelligence" — remains on schedule. The invited speaker has listed his affiliation as "Independent Researcher" since February, when an attempt to contact his listed university found the department does not offer graduate programs in the field he claims to study.

Conference registration is $1,895 for students and $2,750 for professionals. Early-bird pricing expired June 1.

"We remain deeply committed to the integrity of the scientific process," the program chair said. "The process remains underway."