This year’s Genetic and Evolutionary Computation Conference (GECCO 2025) in Málaga was a complete success. Our research group was represented with three contributions, all of which attracted significant interest.
Best Paper Award for TSGP
We are very proud of the Best Paper Award for the contribution “Transformer Semantic Genetic Programming for Symbolic Regression” by Philipp Anthes, Dominik Sobania, and Franz Rothlauf.
The paper presents an innovative approach that solves symbolic regression problems by integrating transformer-based neural networks into genetic programming. By taking solution behavior into account, the method can produce compact models with strong predictive performance after only a few iterations.
Evolutionary Image Generation with ImageBreeder
Star Wars goes GECCO – May the fo
rce be with your image generation!
Martin Briesch and Dominik Sobania presented ImageBreeder, a novel approach to evolutionary image generation.
The system combines diffusion models with evolutionary algorithms to algorithmically optimize the visual quality of generated images. The project attracted significant attention and shows promising potential for fully autonomous image optimization—without any human feedback.
Benchmarking Selection Methods in Genetic Programming
Alina Geiger presented her recently published benchmark study in Transactions on Evolutionary Learning and Optimization.
The study compares the performance of modern Lexicase-based selection methods (ε‑Lexicase, Batch‑Lexicase, Plexicase) with traditional methods like Tournament Selection and Fitness-Proportionate Selection—each combined with various downsampling strategies. The results offer valuable insights for choosing and combining selection and downsampling strategies in genetic programming.
We sincerely congratulate everyone involved on their contributions and are already looking forward to GECCO 2026!