Abstract:In this talk, I argue that the Penrose inequality (PI) can be used to constrain low energy theories compatible with AdS/CFT. It is shown that the PI can be violated for minimally coupled scalar fields, and I produce exclusion plots on couplings that respect the PI. I also present numerical evidence that top-down scalar theories and supersymmetric theories respect the PI.  In the case where the dominant energy condition holds, a proof of the PI for spherical, planar or hyperbolic symmetry is given. Finally, similar to the Breitenlohner-Freedman bound, I give a necessary condition for the stability AdS that constrains coupling constants (beyond the scalar mass).