Veeti Ahvonen

Exploring limits of mechanical reasoning via logic

I am a commercialization specialist at the ExlainedAI project funded by Business Finland and Tampere University. I also work as a doctoral researcher in mathematics at Tampere University. My research interests are logic, theoretical computer science, theoretical foundations of AI, and machine learning. Associate Professor Antti Kuusisto acts as my supervisor.

Feel free to reach out if you'd like to discuss logic, AI or potential collaborations!

veeti.ahvonen[at]tuni.fi

Publications

Cross-Attention and Encoder-Decoder Transformers: A Logical Characterization with D. Heiman, K. Kuusisto, M. Moreno, M. Selin — May 2026
arXiv
Descriptive Complexity for Neural Networks via Boolean Networks with D. Heiman, A. Kuusisto — CSL 2024 — Journal of Logic and Computation 2026
Journal Conf arXiv
Expressive Power of Graph Transformers via Logic with M. Funk, D. Heiman, A. Kuusisto, C. Lutz — AAAI 2026
AAAI arXiv
Formula size game and model checking for modal substitution calculus with R. Jaakkola, A. Kuusisto — to appear in Journal of Logic and Computation 2026
arXiv
Descriptive Complexity for Distributed Computing with Circuits with D. Heiman, L. Hella, A. Kuusisto — MFCS 2023 — Journal of Logic and Computation 2025
Journal Conf arXiv
Logical Characterizations of Recurrent Graph Neural Networks with Reals and Floats with D. Heiman, A. Kuusisto, C. Lutz — NeurIPS 2024
NeurIPS arXiv
Graded Modal Logic and Counting Message Passing Automata with D. Heiman, A. Kuusisto — January 2024
arXiv

Presentations

Logical foundations for modern computational models Logic seminar, University of Helsinki, 28 January 2026
Slides
Expressive power of graph transformers via logic AAAI 2026, Singapore, 22 January 2026
Poster
Logical characterizations of graph transformers Finnish Mathematical Days 2026, University of Jyväskylä, 9 January 2026
Slides Video Video
On the expressive power of graph transformers Logic and discrete mathematics seminar, Tampere University, 3 October 2025
Slides

Logical characterizations for recurrent graph neural networks with reals and floats NeurIPS 2024, Vancouver Canada, 16 December 2024
Poster
Games for graded modal substitution calculus Logic and discrete mathematics seminar, Tampere University, 15 November 2024
Mathematics and Statistical Data Analysis Career Event An event for students about careers organized by Luuppi ry, 5 November 2024
New directions in descriptive complexity Finnish Mathematical Days 2024, Aalto University, 5 January 2024
Slides
Descriptive complexity for neural networks via Boolean networks With D. Heiman, Tampere University, 3 November 2023
Slides
Kuvailevaa vaativuusteoriaa neuroverkoille Tampere University, 21 September 2023
Slides
Modal logic and distributed computing with identifiers Logic and discrete mathematics seminar, Tampere University, 9 December 2022

Visits

Research visit: Prof. Valentin Goranko, Stockholm University, Sweden, 1 week during January 2024
Research visit: Prof. Valentin Goranko, Stockholm University, Sweden, 4 weeks during April 2023

Other

Väisälä Foundation scholarship for three years of PhD studies (79,000 EUR)
Reviewer for ICALP 2026, IJCAI 2026, AAAI 2026, IJCAI 2025, CSL 2025, AAMAS 2025
Teaching assistant in mathematics courses: analysis, linear algebra, abstract algebra, discrete mathematics

Research assistant (2021): accessible LaTeX documents
Master's thesis: Formaalien kielten vaativuusteoriaa ja pelillistämistä "Descriptive complexity and game-theoretic semantics for some formal languages"
Bachelor's thesis: Deterministisen äärellisen automaatin minimointi "Minimizing deterministic finite automata"