Stuart Russell wins AAAI Award for Artificial Intelligence for the Benefit of Humanity

EECS Professor Stuart Russell has been awarded the AAAI Award for Artificial Intelligence for the Benefit of Humanity.

The Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence (AAAI) Award for the Benefit of Humanity recognizes AI advancements that have a positive, lasting impact on human life—protecting, enhancing, and improving humanity in meaningful ways.

Russell was honored “for his work on the conceptual and theoretical foundations of provably beneficial AI and his leadership in creating the field of AI safety.”

Russel’s work focuses on ensuring the safe and beneficial coexistence of humans and advanced AI systems. He addresses the risk posed by highly capable AI systems with misaligned objectives, which could lead to irreversible harm to humanity. Russell challenges the longstanding assumption in AI research that systems are given fixed objectives to optimize. Instead, he proposes framing AI as an “assistance game,” where the AI’s goal is to support human interests, though it remains uncertain about what those interests are. This approach ensures that AI systems are provably beneficial to humans. Through his book Human Compatible, the BBC Reith Lectures, and various publications, Russell has played a leading role in advancing AI safety.