Stewart Russell selected as 2021 BBC Reith Lecturer

CS Prof. Stewart Russell has been selected as the 2021 BBC Reith Lecturer.  Considered among the most prestigious lecture series across all fields, Reith Lectures are delivered annually by leading authorites invited by the BBC “to advance public understanding and debate about significant issues of contemporary interest.”   Russell will deliver four lectures this fall, held in four locations across the UK, on the subject of “Living With Artificial Intelligence.” The series, which will be and broadcast on Radio 4 and the World Service as well as made available on BBC Sounds, will “explore the impact of AI on our lives and discuss how we can retain power over machines more powerful than ourselves.”  The first lecture, titled “The Biggest Event in Human History,” will be held in London and will cover the birth of AI; the second lecture, in Manchester, will cover “AI in Warfare;” the third, in Ediburgh, will cover “AI in the Economy;” and the final lecture, in Newcastle, is titled “AI: A Future for Humans?”  Russell, who is the Director of the Berkeley Center for Human-Compatible AI, has developed a new global seismic monitoring system for the nuclear-test-ban treaty and is currently working to ban lethal autonomous weapons.  His book “Artificial Intelligence: A Modern Approach” is the standard text in AI, used in 1500 universities in 135 countries.