diff --git a/src/inference/ais.jl b/src/inference/ais.jl
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..e94b7794
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/inference/ais.jl
@@ -0,0 +1,110 @@
+"""
+    (lml_est, trace, weights) = ais(
+        model::GenerativeFunction, constraints::ChoiceMap,
+        args_seq::Vector{Tuple}, argdiffs::Tuple,
+        mcmc_kernel::Function)
+
+Run annealed importance sampling, returning the log marginal likelihood estimate (`lml_est`).
+
+The mcmc_kernel must satisfy detailed balance with respect to each step in the chain.
+"""
+function ais(
+        model::GenerativeFunction, constraints::ChoiceMap,
+        args_seq::Vector{<:Tuple}, argdiffs::Tuple, mcmc_kernel::Function)
+    init_trace, init_weight = generate(model, args_seq[1], constraints)
+    _ais(init_trace, init_weight, args_seq, argdiffs, mcmc_kernel)
+end
+
+function ais(
+        trace::Trace, selection::Selection,
+        args_seq::Vector{<:Tuple}, argdiffs::Tuple, mcmc_kernel::Function)
+    init_trace, = update(init_trace, args_seq[1], argdiffs, EmptyChoiceMap())
+    init_weight = project(trace, ComplementSelection(selection))
+    _ais(init_trace, init_weight, args_seq, argdiffs, mcmc_kernel)
+end
+
+function _ais(
+        trace::Trace, init_weight::Float64, args_seq::Vector{<:Tuple},
+        argdiffs::Tuple, mcmc_kernel::Function)
+    @assert get_args(trace) == args_seq[1]
+
+    # run forward AIS
+    weights = Float64[]
+    lml_est = init_weight
+    push!(weights, init_weight)
+    for intermediate_args in args_seq[2:end-1]
+        trace = mcmc_kernel(trace)
+        (trace, weight, _, discard) = update(trace, intermediate_args, argdiffs, EmptyChoiceMap())
+        if !isempty(discard)
+            error("Change to arguments cannot cause random choices to be removed from trace")
+        end
+        lml_est += weight
+        push!(weights, weight)
+    end
+    trace = mcmc_kernel(trace)
+    (trace, weight, _, discard) = update(
+        trace, args_seq[end], argdiffs, EmptyChoiceMap())
+        if !isempty(discard)
+            error("Change to arguments cannot cause random choices to be removed from trace")
+        end
+    lml_est += weight
+    push!(weights, weight)
+
+    # do MCMC at the very end
+    trace = mcmc_kernel(trace)
+
+    return (lml_est, trace, weights)
+end
+
+"""
+    (lml_est, weights) = reverse_ais(
+        model::GenerativeFunction, constraints::ChoiceMap,
+        args_seq::Vector{Tuple}, argdiffs::Tuple,
+        mcmc_kernel::Function)
+
+Run reverse annealed importance sampling, returning the log marginal likelihood estimate (`lml_est`).
+
+`constraints` must be a choice map that uniquely determines a trace of the model for the final arguments in the argument sequence.
+The mcmc_kernel must satisfy detailed balance with respect to each step in the chain.
+"""
+function reverse_ais(
+        model::GenerativeFunction, constraints::ChoiceMap,
+        args_seq::Vector, argdiffs::Tuple,
+        mh_rev::Function, output_addrs::Selection; safe=true)
+
+    # construct final model trace from the inferred choices and all the fixed choices
+    (trace, should_be_score) = generate(model, args_seq[end], constraints)
+    init_score = get_score(trace)
+    if safe && !isapprox(should_be_score, init_score) # check it's deterministic
+        error("Some random choices may have been unconstrained")
+    end
+
+    # do mh at the very beginning
+    trace = mh_rev(trace)
+
+    # run backward AIS
+    lml_est = 0.
+    weights = Float64[]
+    for model_args in reverse(args_seq[1:end-1])
+        (trace, weight, _, _) = update(trace, model_args, argdiffs, EmptyChoiceMap())
+        safe && isnan(weight) && error("NaN weight")
+        lml_est -= weight
+        push!(weights, -weight)
+        trace = mh_rev(trace)
+    end
+
+    # get pi_1(z_0) / q(z_0) -- the weight that would be returned by the initial 'generate' call
+    # select the addresses that would be constrained by the call to generate inside to AIS.simulate()
+    @assert get_args(trace) == args_seq[1]
+    #score_from_project = project(trace, ComplementSelection(output_addrs))
+    score_from_project = project(trace, output_addrs)
+    lml_est += score_from_project
+    push!(weights, score_from_project)
+    if isnan(score_from_project)
+        error("NaN score_from_project")
+    end
+
+    return (lml_est, reverse(weights))
+end
+
+export ais, reverse_ais
diff --git a/src/inference/importance.jl b/src/inference/importance.jl
index fac3c0e4..4e9172bd 100644
--- a/src/inference/importance.jl
+++ b/src/inference/importance.jl
@@ -107,4 +107,26 @@ function importance_resampling(model::GenerativeFunction{T,U}, model_args::Tuple
     return (model_trace::U, log_ml_estimate::Float64)
 end
 
-export importance_sampling, importance_resampling
+"""
+    log_ml_estimate = conditional_is_estimator(
+        trace::Trace, observed::Selection, num_samples::Int)
+
+Given a trace sampled from the conditional distribution given observed choices,
+return an estimate of the log marginal likelihood of the observed choices that is a
+stochastic upper bound on the true log marginal likelihood.
+"""
+function conditional_is_estimator(trace::Trace, observed::Selection, num_samples::Int)
+    model = get_gen_fn(trace)
+    model_args = get_args(trace)
+    observations = get_selected(get_choices(trace), observed)
+    log_weights = Vector{Float64}(undef, num_samples)
+    log_weights[1] = project(trace, observed)
+    for i=2:num_samples
+        (_, log_weights[i]) = generate(model, model_args, observations)
+    end
+    log_total_weight = logsumexp(log_weights)
+    log_ml_estimate = log_total_weight - log(num_samples)
+    return log_ml_estimate
+end
+
+export importance_sampling, importance_resampling, conditional_is_estimator
diff --git a/src/inference/inference.jl b/src/inference/inference.jl
index bf4afb1b..70120ea5 100644
--- a/src/inference/inference.jl
+++ b/src/inference/inference.jl
@@ -25,3 +25,4 @@ include("particle_filter.jl")
 include("map_optimize.jl")
 include("train.jl")
 include("variational.jl")
+include("ais.jl")