With the Support of NIA, a 15-Year-Old Hungarian Researcher Attended the AGI–26 Conference in San Francisco

The Németh Imre Foundation provided HUF 50,000 in financial support for 15-year-old Gáspár Tóth-Pócs's journey to San Francisco. The young researcher presented his own mathematical model at one of the prestigious international conferences devoted to artificial general intelligence.

An extraordinary story that began with an article on Qubit

Melinda Mészáros, President of the Németh Imre Foundation, first learned about the exceptionally talented young researcher from Kecskemét and his remarkable work through an article about Gáspár published by Qubit.

At the time, Gáspár had just completed primary school, yet he was already independently researching mathematical questions related to artificial intelligence. His paper had been accepted for presentation at the AGI–26 conference, but his family had only a short time to raise the considerable funds required for the trip to San Francisco.

Supporting talented young people is one of the Németh Imre Foundation's primary objectives. The Foundation was therefore delighted to contribute HUF 50,000 towards Gáspár's travel expenses.

"It is always a great pleasure for us to support such a talented, dedicated and exceptional young person. We hope our contribution helped Gáspár attend this prestigious international conference, present his research and gain a professional experience that will stay with him for the rest of his life," said Melinda, Mészáros,  President of the Németh Imre Foundation.

A presentation on the main stage at San Francisco State University

Tóth-Pócs Gáspár delivered his presentation on 28 July 2026 on the main stage of the AGI–26 conference at San Francisco State University.

The title of his presentation was:

Horismos: Self-representation and the Derived Constitutional Boundary in Enriched Cognitive Systems

Gáspár's mathematical model examines how an artificial intelligence system that continuously improves itself can remain stable and controllable over the long term.

According to his theory, under suitable conditions, the system converges towards a unique and stable final state called Omega (Ω). What makes the research particularly distinctive is that the safety boundary, or "constitutional boundary", is not simply imposed through external rules. Instead, stability follows from the system's own mathematical structure and therefore emerges as a mathematically derivable property.

A recording of the conference presentation is also available on YouTube. Gáspár's presentation can be viewed from 2:36:45 to 2:46:05.

The paper was also published in a Springer conference volume

Gáspár's work gained international recognition not only through his presentation. His paper was also published on 23 July 2026 in Springer's scientific conference proceedings, as part of the Lecture Notes in Computer Science – Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence series. It appears on pages 391–407 of the volume entitled Artificial General Intelligence – AGI 2026.

The official Springer page for the paper is available here.

DOI: 10.1007/978-3-032-33195-3_27

The paper's scientific abstract is freely available on Springer's website. Access to the full text currently requires an individual or institutional subscription, or the purchase of the article.

"Research is about building on one another's ideas"

For Gáspár, the conference was not only a professional achievement but also a defining personal experience. He was deeply impressed by the open, friendly and approachable atmosphere of San Francisco and California.

Among the many presentations he attended, he particularly appreciated Alexander Ororbia II's talk on predictive coding and an approach inspired by the human brain. He found it fascinating to consider intelligence from a perspective so different from that of today's mainstream artificial intelligence systems.

His most important insight, however, came from experiencing the research community itself:

"When I first became involved in scientific research, I imagined this world as a competition: everyone tries to develop the best theory, solve a problem that no one else has solved, and eventually it becomes clear who was right. At the conference, however, I saw that research is much more about building on and complementing one another's ideas."

Gáspár observed that researchers approach the same questions from very different directions, debate with one another, develop each other's ideas further and each contribute something to a shared understanding.

"I am very happy that I was able to present my own work in this environment. Overall, the conference strengthened my determination to continue pursuing research," Gáspár explained.

Supporting talent beyond borders

Tóth-Pócs Gáspár attended the Kecskemét Kodály Zoltán Primary School of Music for eight years. He is now continuing his studies at the Kecskemét Piarist Secondary School.

The Németh Imre Foundation is particularly pleased to have contributed to the international debut of such an exceptional young Hungarian researcher. We are proud that our support allowed us to become part of this remarkable story.

Gáspár's example demonstrates the extraordinary achievements that can result from curiosity, perseverance, independent thinking and dedication. It also reminds us how important it is for communities and supporting organisations to stand beside talented young people at the right time and help them turn their opportunities into reality.

A selection of photographs and videos from the journey, the conference and Gáspár's experiences in San Francisco can be viewed here.

Congratulations to Gáspár on his international presentation and the publication of his paper by Springer! We wish him every success in his future research!