Berkeley AI Research - BAIR

AI can feel sudden. Disruptive. Everywhere at once.

For Cal Professor Stuart Russell, the questions began long before the headlines.

As co-author of Artificial Intelligence: A Modern Approach, he helped define how generations of students learn the field. In Human Compatible, he brought the challenge of AI alignment into public debate. In Provably Beneficial Artificial Intelligence, he examined how to design systems that are safe by construction.

Last year, EECS Professor Russell was awarded the AAAI Award for Artificial Intelligence for the Benefit of Humanity, honoring his work on the conceptual foundations of provably beneficial AI and his leadership in building the field of AI safety.

His research challenges a long-standing assumption in AI: that machines should optimize fixed objectives. Instead, he proposes treating AI as an “assistance game,” systems designed to support human interests while remaining uncertain about them.

As conversations around regulation and safety accelerate, the thinking behind them has been unfolding at Cal for decades.

The technology may feel new. The questions guiding it are not.

Join us in an exciting series of distinguished lectures on The Status and Future of AI featuring Jaron Lanier, Alison Gopnik, Anca Dragan and Timnit Gebru.

Register for attending in-person or online: https://citris-uc.org/news-events/citris-research-exchange