The primary mission of CSAIL is research in both computer science and artificial intelligence, broadly construed. It is organized into three directorates:

* Artificial Intelligence: This area of research aims to understand and develop systems - living and artificial - capable of intelligent reasoning, perception and behavior. Specific research areas include: classical AI, computational biology, computer graphics, computer vision, human language technology, machine learning, medical informatics, robotics, and the semantic web.
* Systems: This area of research aims to discover common principles, models, metrics, and tools of computer systems, both hardware and software. Specific research areas include compilers, computer architecture and chip design, operating systems, programming languages, and computer networks.
* Theory: This area of research studies the mathematics of computation and its consequences. Specific research areas include algorithms, complexity theory, computational geometry, cryptography, distributed computing, information security, and quantum computing.
The primary mission of CSAIL is research in both computer science and artificial intelligence, broadly construed. It is organized into three directorates:

* Artificial Intelligence: This area of research aims to understand and develop systems - living and artificial - capable of intelligent reasoning, perception and behavior. Specific research areas include: classical AI, computational biology, computer graphics, computer vision, human language technology, machine learning, medical informatics, robotics, and the semantic web.
* Systems: This area of research aims to discover common principles, models, metrics, and tools of computer systems, both hardware and software. Specific research areas include compilers, computer architecture and chip design, operating systems, programming languages, and computer networks.
* Theory: This area of research studies the mathematics of computation and its consequences. Specific research areas include algorithms, complexity theory, computational geometry, cryptography, distributed computing, information security, and quantum computing.