Michael Littman

Littman’s interest in artificial intelligence dates back to 1979, when he first got a computer: a 20-questions-style game that chose its questions based on the user’s responses captured his interest.⁠[1]

On his personal website Littman says he sang in the very first email attachment ever sent, in 1992.⁠[2]

After earning his PhD at Brown University in 1996, Littman was an assistant professor at Duke University, a member of technical staff in AT&TAT&TAT&T (AT&T Inc.) is a telecommunications company headquartered in Dallas, Texas. Its predecessor was SBC Communications, a regional holding company created in the 1984 breakup of the Bell System; SBC merged with the original AT&T Corp. in 2005 and adopted its name, and it has since operated a nationwide wireless network and fiber broadband, at one time also owning DIRECTV and WarnerMedia.Open the full entry’s AI Principles Research Department, and then an associate professor of computer science at Rutgers University, where he directed the Rutgers Laboratory for Real-Life Reinforcement Learning and chaired the department from 2009 to June 2012. In fall 2012 he returned to Brown as a professor, calling it “a dream come true.”⁠[3]

In 1999 Littman, then a Duke assistant professor, led a class with graduate students Greg Keim and Noam Shazeer that created Proverb, the first computer program able to solve American crossword puzzles; at that March’s 22nd American Crossword Puzzle Tournament, where it was not an official competitor, it placed 147th out of 254.⁠[4]

In May 2014 Udacity launched Machine Learning 3: Reinforcement Learning, the third part of a series created with Georgia Tech’s Online Master of Computer Science program and, like the first two parts, taught by professors Littman and Charles IsbellCharles IsbellCharles Lee Isbell Jr. is an American computer scientist and university administrator who works on interactive machine learning. He was dean of Georgia Tech’s College of Computing and an architect of its online master’s in computer science, served as provost of UW–Madison from 2023 to 2025, and has been chancellor of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign since 2025.Open the full entry.⁠[5]

In January 2016 a TurboTax television commercial starring Littman first aired, captioning him as a computer scientist at Brown University. Made by Wieden+Kennedy, it was directed by Randy Krallman, who chose him after watching videos of him singing, dancing and performing in Brown’s 2015 Dancing with the Profs; it was filmed in New Jersey on October 21, 2015.⁠[6]

In June 2016 GoLocalProv named Littman one of the “50 Greatest Living Rhode Islanders,” alongside actress Viola Davis and others; he was then spearheading Brown’s Humanity-Centered Robotics Initiative.⁠[7]

The Standing Committee of the Stanford-based One Hundred Year Study on Artificial Intelligence recruited Littman to chair its second Study Panel. The 17-member panel, drawn from computer science, law, policy, sociology, economics and other fields, launched in fall 2020 and in 2021 released the report Gathering Strength, Gathering Storms on AI’s impact on people and societies worldwide.⁠[8]

On December 13, 2020, Littman appeared as a Brown University computer scientist on episode 144 of the Lex FridmanLex FridmanLex Fridman is a Soviet-born, US-raised computer scientist and podcast host who works as an MIT research scientist on human-AI interaction and autonomous driving. His Lex Fridman Podcast is known for hours-long conversations with guests including heads of state and technology leaders.Open the full entry Podcast, discussing existential risks of AI, reinforcement learning, AlphaGo, whether neural networks will achieve AGI, and starring in a TurboTax commercial.⁠[9]

On December 26 he appeared with Charles Isbell on episode 148, discussing machine learning and statistics, teaching machine learning, how the two met, and college in the time of COVID.⁠[10]

Littman then began a three-year term as division director for Information and Intelligent Systems at the National Science Foundation, a post described as the foundation’s AI czar; while in the Washington area he commuted by electric unicycle.⁠[11]

In a September 2023 interview Littman explained that his division is the home base for AI and machine learning within the NSF; he said he was very skeptical that current language models generate good solutions to problems people have not already discussed, and that the NSF had made sure not to swing the spotlight to language models alone.⁠[12]

In October 2023 MIT Press published Littman’s 232-page book Code to Joy: Why Everyone Should Learn a Little Programming, which argues that readers can improve their relationship with computers by learning basic programming rather than fearing that machines will take their jobs or control what they buy and how they vote.⁠[13]

In December 2024 Brown University Provost Francis J. Doyle III announced Littman’s appointment as Brown’s first Associate Provost for Artificial Intelligence, effective July 1, 2025, after his NSF service, to coordinate AI research, education and operations across the university. The announcement said he oversaw an annual budget of $200 million at the NSF and was a lead author of the 2023 update to the US AI Research and Development Strategic Plan.⁠[14]

In April 2026 Littman was elected a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He is a Fellow of AAAI and ACMAustralian Community MediaAustralian Community Media (ACM) is an Australian regional and rural news publishing group with more than 100 brands, including The Canberra Times; in 2019 Nine sold it to a company controlled by interests associated with Antony Catalano and Thorney Investment Group.Open the full entry, has received the AAAI/EAAI Patrick Henry Winston Outstanding Educator Award, and has served as General Chair of the International Conference on Machine Learning.⁠[15]

Personal website: Public link: https://www.littmania.com/ (opens in a new window)⁠[9]

X: Public account: https://x.com/mlittmancs (opens in a new window)⁠[9]

YouTubeYouTubeYouTube is Google’s video-sharing and creator platform, founded in 2005 by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim and acquired by Google in 2006. Built around video uploading, viewing, and creator earnings, the platform has developed Shorts, YouTube Music, Premium, YouTube TV, and products for children, and is headquartered in San Bruno, California, United States.Open the full entry: Public channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/mlittman (opens in a new window)⁠[9]

Brown University: Official website: https://www.brown.edu/ (opens in a new window)⁠[14]