Coming up with new/original models that solve the same exact problems that people are trying to solve with neural networks (computer vision, language translation, image generation etc) hopefully that are better performing & cheaper computationally.
> What kind of computational model?
I think answering that question would be what the researcher in this field is trying todo. I think a place to start would be exploring abandoned AI strategies like Genetics Algorithms & Markov Logic
>What are some practical applications of complex systems?
- Modeling Financial Markets [1]
- Drug discovery via Molecular Dynamics Simulations [2]
- Urban Planning [3]
- Modeling Epidemics [4]
- Cosmology
- Computer Graphics
- Much more ....
[1]: https://sites.santafe.edu/~wbarthur/elfarol.htm
[2]: https://youtu.be/PGqCeSjNuTY?si=uNP8o6DW1cSeAjo-
[3]: http://traffic.phys.cs.is.nagoya-u.ac.jp/~mstf/index_e.html
[4]: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yaneer_Bar-Yam
If interested, subscribe to these podcasts.
1: Simplifying Complexity: https://pca.st/podcast/1c42ee40-3735-013b-efb2-0acc26574db2
2: Complexity: https://pca.st/podcast/87eef2d0-cd12-0137-1e17-0acc26574db2