This conference provides a forum for a highly interdisciplinary community combining AI with photonics, microscopy, active matter, biomedicine, and brain connectivity. Importantly, this conference includes topics outside the core expertise of optics and photonics. Photonics and machine learning have become decisively interdisciplinary, and we expect additional synergy and inspiration through this open-minded approach. By bringing together experts from different fields and backgrounds, this conference will provide new fundamental insights, technological applications, and commercialization opportunities. The topics that will be covered are: data acquisition and analysis through photonic subsystems enhanced computational microscopy using AI fundamental aspects of photonic non-digital computing integrated photonics and nonlinear optical components for next generation computing alternative computing concepts such as neural networks and Ising machines to overcome the end of Moore and Dennard scaling enhanced precision medicine, e.g., virtual tissue staining, early diagnosis, and AI for analysis of brain connectivity biomimetic and neuromorphic computational architectures embodied intelligence in nature and technology evolution of adaptive behaviors in biological systems engineering collective behaviors in robotic swarms