Stuart Russell

‍Stuart Russell is a true pioneer in artificial intelligence, robotics, and machine learning who wrote the authoritative text on AI. He is professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences at University of California, Berkeley, holder of the Smith-Zadeh Chair in Engineering, and director of both the school’s Center for Human-Compatible Artificial Intelligence and Kavli Center for Ethics, Science, and the Public. His research covers a wide range of topics in AI and machine learning, with a core focus on ensuring that humans can always maintain power over AI systems that grow to be more powerful than ourselves. 

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Artificial Intelligence: A Modern Approach, now in its fourth edition, is the standard textbook for students of the subject. It has been translated into 14 languages and is used in over 1500 universities in more than 130 countries. Of near equal impact is Russell’s book Human Compatible: AI and the Problem of Control, in which he tackles growing concerns about the development of super-intelligent AI with the power to destroy humanity as we know it. He argues we can avoid this fate and peacefully coexist with machines smarter than us, but it requires a complete overhaul to the way we think about and build AI systems. Kirkus called the book “authoritative [and] accessible…a strong case for planning for the day when machines can outsmart us.”

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With a front row seat to the rapid development of AI and a thoroughly informed understanding of its capabilities in the wrong hands, Stuart is a vocal advocate for AI safety. He has expressed concerns that we’re creating powerful AI faster than we’re learning to control it and was one of the signatories of the March 2023 open letter calling for a six-month moratorium on AI development. Of primary concern for Russell is the threat of lethal autonomous weapons systems. He has worked with the United Nations to create a new global seismic monitoring system for the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty. 

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Russell serves as co-chair of the World Economic Forum’s Council on AI, co-chair of the OECD Expert Group on AI Futures, and US representative at the Global Partnership for AI. Throughout his career, he has held many fellowships and was most recently named an AI2050 Senior Fellow, a Distinguished Fellow of the Stanford Institute for Human-Centered AI, and a Chatham House Associate Fellow in the Digital Society Initiative.

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Stuart is a member of the inaugural TIME100 AI cohort, honoring the most influential people in the field. In 2021, Russell was appointed by Her Majesty The Queen as an Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (OBE) and was selected to deliver the BBC Reith Lecture, Living with Artificial Intelligence. Stuart has also been honored with the ACM-AAAI Allen Newell Award, IJCAI Research Excellence Award, and the AAAI Feigenbaum Prize, among many others. He previously held the Chaire Blaise Pascal in Paris, awarded to acclaimed foreign scientists across all disciplines. Stuart is a graduate of both Oxford and Stanford.