All the technologies responsible for artificial intelligence are evolving at an exponential rate. Very soon and in practically all areas of human life, culture and business, artificially intelligent machines will be doing things that have yet to be conceived of. If artificial intelligence is the brain of the machine of the future, then the robot is its body. These are now performing ever more functions that previously required a human actor, with all kinds of consequences and opportunities. Few people understand this future better than Stuart Russell, one of the main researchers in the area of the practical applications of machine intelligence.

Stuart Russell is a Professor of Electrotechnical Engineering and Computer Science at the University of California, Berkeley, and Adjunct Professor of Neurological Surgery at the University of California, San Francisco. He is a pioneer in the understanding and use of artificial intelligence, reflecting on its long-term future and its relationship with humankind. He is also one of the world’s leading authorities on robotics and bioinformatics. He is the author or coauthor of three books on knowledge, reasoning, and machine learning, including the standard textbook on artificial intelligence. As an Adjunct Professor of Neurological Surgery, Stuart has been researching computational physiology, with a current focus on Intensive Care Unit monitoring systems. He is a leader in the development of technologies that make sense of biological data and that apply this information in ways that advance human health.

In addition to the positions already mentioned, Stuart Russell holds the Smith-Zadeh Chair in Engineering at UC-Berkeley and is Vice-Chair of the World Economic Forum’s Council on AI and Robotics. He is the recipient of many awards and held the Chaire Blaise Pascal in Paris from 2012 to 2014. He is a researcher at a number of research centers, including the Berkeley Artificial Intelligence Research Lab (BAIR), the Berkeley Center for New Media (BCNM), and the Synthetic Biology Institute (SBI). He is the founder and Vice-President of Bayesian Logic, Inc., a data analysis start-up under contract with the UN to build a new Nuclear Test Ban Treaty global monitoring system.