Luc Steels

Luc Steels is a senior research professor at the Catalan Institute for Advanced Studies (ICREA), attached to the Complex Systems Department at the Institute of Evolutionary Biology (IBE - UPF/CSIC) in Barcelona. He holds a dual background in linguistics (University of Antwerp) and computer science (MIT, advised by Marvin Minsky). His research focuses on language evolution, computational models of communication systems, and artificial intelligence, particularly in multi-agent robotics and embodied cognition. He has led pioneering labs, including the Sony Computer Science Lab in Paris (1996–2012) and the Language Evolution Lab at IBE (2011–present). Steels has contributed extensively to AI organizations, co-founding ECCAI, editing major journals like AI Communications, and coordinating EU research projects. His work bridges linguistics, robotics, and complex systems, emphasizing how meaning and grammar emerge from social interactions. He has also engaged in educational initiatives, including televised courses for the Dutch Open University and visiting professorships worldwide. Steels' recent research explores AI ethics, human-AI collaboration, and interdisciplinary methods in art-science-technology integration.

Education:

• PhD in Computer Science (MIT, advised by Marvin Minsky)
• Masters in Linguistics (University of Antwerp)

Research Interests: Language evolution, agent-based models, computational linguistics, robotics, AI ethics, multi-agent systems, embodied cognition, and interdisciplinary art-science collaborations. His work often combines theoretical models with experimental setups involving robots or virtual agents to simulate communication system evolution.

Labs & Teams: Founder of the Language Evolution Lab (IBE), Sony Computer Science Lab (Paris), and the VUB Artificial Intelligence Laboratory. These labs have produced groundbreaking research on grammar emergence, semantic understanding, and AI's societal impacts.