Charles Gretton

Charles Gretton is a Lecturer at the Australian National University (ANU), specifically within the ANU College of Systems & Society. He is an Artificial Intelligence (AI) expert with over 20 years of experience in both academia and industry, including co-founding HIVERY, a CSIRO Data61 spinout. His research focuses on Automated Planning, Automated Reasoning, and Machine Learning, with applications in computer security, astronomical instrumentation, retail optimization, and robotics control.

• Affiliations: ANU, HIVERY (co-founder), CSIRO Data61
• Industry Experience: Successfully applied AI in fast-moving consumer goods logistics, continental-scale retail strategies, and robotics.

His teaching roles include delivering core courses in Theoretical Computer Science and AI at ANU since 2013, alongside leading the ANU TechLauncher program (2018–2024), a capstone initiative fostering industry collaboration with early-career professionals. His research spans cutting-edge topics like physics-informed neural networks for plasma physics, AI in financial markets, and adaptive optics systems for astronomy.

Charles has supervised notable students including Patrick Liston (financial agent-based simulations), Xiaodi Zhang (probabilistic planning), and Jeffrey Smith (astronomical instrumentation AI). Key collaborations involve instrumentation scientists like Damien Gratadour and Jesse Cranney. His work bridges theoretical AI with real-world applications, emphasizing human-centric technology.

Notable projects include the Dagster parallel search tool, verified AI planning algorithms, and AI-driven solutions for policing and retail. His contributions to planning theory include formally verified algorithms and compositional methods for problem-solving.