R+AI 2026
R+AI 2026, the R Consortium conference dedicated to the open-source R community and every facet of artificial intelligence, was held November 10–11, 2026. The conference was 100% online.
The program covered machine learning and large language models in R, AI-assisted coding tools, industry deployments, and responsible AI research.
KEYNOTE ADDRESSES
Friction Worth Keeping: What Keeps Us Human When AI Makes Everything Easy
Andrew Heiss, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of International Politics and Policy, Georgetown University in Qatar
Opening Keynote · November 10 at 8:00 AM, Eastern
Generative AI removes friction. Need a poster for an event? Slides for stakeholders? An R package to access an API? An answer for a problem set? It’s all a prompt away. But not all friction is bad. Some friction is formative and central to the human experience: struggling to learn develops skills and expertise, and working through hard problems builds understanding and judgment. How can we tell what friction is worth keeping?
Read the full abstract and bio
Beyond the prompt
Mine Çetinkaya-Rundel, Professor of the Practice, Department of Statistical Science, Duke University; Senior Developer Advocate, Posit, PBC
Closing Keynote · November 11 at 3:15 PM, Eastern
AI tools can generate a polished ggplot, scaffold a Quarto report, and debug a dplyr pipeline in seconds. Should students still learn to do these things themselves? I argue yes, and that teaching programming and reproducible workflows is more important than ever. This talk reframes programming as a pathway to statistical thinking rather than syntax acquisition, and explores assignments and assessments that prepare students to use AI critically, reproducibly, and responsibly.
Read the full abstract and bio
Talks were recorded and will be posted to the R Consortium YouTube channel.
R + AI Community Needs Survey
Where is the R community on AI today, and where is it headed? In September and October 2026, ahead of R+AI 2026, R Consortium conducted a short survey on tools, trust, reproducibility, and real-world workflows. The responses are helping shape R Consortium webinars, working groups, resources, and R+AI programming.
Sponsorships
If you would like to know about sponsorship opportunities, please write to sponsorship@r-consortium.org.