OPT 2026: Optimization for Machine Learning

This year marks the 18th edition of the long-running NeurIPS Workshop on Optimization for Machine Learning (OPT). OPT 2025 was a tremendous success, attracting over 160 paper submissions, a 30% increase over the previous year, and featuring 5 plenary speakers, 6 contributed talks, and 2 highly attended poster sessions with more than 400 participants. Widely regarded as one of the premier venues at the intersection of optimization and machine learning, the workshop has become a key forum for presenting cutting-edge research and fostering collaboration across the community. In particular, it serves as an important venue for early-career researchers, many of whom view OPT as the leading workshop for frontier research in optimization and machine learning. Over its 18-year history, OPT has played a central role in bringing together researchers from diverse backgrounds, catalyzing collaborations that have gone on to produce influential research at top-tier venues. Its impact on shaping the optimization and machine learning communities cannot be overstated.