Stuart Russell

Stuart Russell is a Distinguished Professor of Computer Science, Cognitive Science, and Computational Precision Health at the University of California, Berkeley, and holds the Michael H. Smith and Lotfi A. Zadeh Chair in Engineering. He is also Honorary Fellow of Wadham College, Oxford, and affiliated with the UCSF Department of Computational Precision Health. His research focuses on AI safety, ethics, reinforcement learning, and the societal implications of artificial intelligence.

Education: B.A. (Physics, 1st Class Honors, University of Oxford, 1982); Ph.D. (Computer Science, Stanford University, 1986).

Research interests include foundational AI theory, provably beneficial AI systems, and global AI governance. He co-authored the seminal textbook Artificial Intelligence: A Modern Approach (4th ed., 2020) and authored Human Compatible: AI and the Problem of Control (2019), recognized as a bestseller and influential work in AI ethics.

Key contributions include pioneering work on rational metareasoning, Bayesian networks, and probabilistic AI. He advises governments and international bodies on AI policy and has testified before U.S. Senate and U.K. Parliament committees. Notable awards include the ACM/AAAI Allen Newell Award (2022), IJCAI Research Excellence Award (2022), and Officer of the British Empire (2021).

Advising and grants: As chair of Berkeley’s Computer Science Division and leader of the Human-Compatible AI Center, he oversees cutting-edge research programs. His work intersects academia, industry, and policy to address AI’s societal challenges.

Labs/teams: Director of the Center for Human-Compatible AI (CHAI), co-founder of the Kavli Center for Ethics, Science, and the Public, and member of the Berkeley AI Research (BAIR) Lab.