Stuart Russell
Stuart Russell is a computer scientist who has taught at the University of California, BerkeleyUniversity of California, BerkeleyThe University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley) is a campus of the University of California system; the University of California was founded in 1868 through a merger of two institutions and moved to Berkeley, California, in 1873.Open the full entry since 1986, co-authored the standard textbook Artificial Intelligence: A Modern Approach with Peter NorvigPeter NorvigPeter Norvig is an American computer scientist, former Director of Research at Google and head of the Computational Sciences Division at NASA Ames Research Center, now a Distinguished Education Fellow at Stanford HAI, and co-author with Stuart Russell of the AI textbook Artificial Intelligence: A Modern Approach.Open the full entry and founded Berkeley’s Center for Human-Compatible Artificial Intelligence; a long-time voice on the risks of losing control over superhuman AI and of autonomous weapons, he wrote Human Compatible and appeared on 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 in 2018.
Contents16 sections
Key facts
1974–1978St Paul’s School
From 1974 to 1978 he attended St Paul’s School in London as its 1st Scholar, earning a distinction in the UK National Mathematical Competition in 1977.[1]
1979–1986Oxford and Stanford
He received a BA with first-class honours in physics from Oxford UniversityUniversity of OxfordThe University of Oxford is a university in Oxford, England, where teaching existed in some form by 1096; it describes itself as the oldest university in the English-speaking world and is organised as a federal system of the university and dozens of self-governing colleges.Open the full entry in 1982 and a PhD in computer science from Stanford in 1986, then joined the faculty of the University of California, Berkeley.[2]
1986–1996Rises to Professor at Berkeley
At Berkeley he was assistant professor of computer science from 1986 to 1991, associate professor from 1991 to 1996 and professor from 1996; he chaired the Computer Science Division from 2006 to 2010 and the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences from 2008 to 2010.[1]
1995Co-Authors AIMA With Peter Norvig
In 1995 he co-authored the seminal textbook Artificial Intelligence: A Modern Approach with Peter Norvig.[3]
The book is in its fourth edition and has been adopted by more than 1,500 schools.[4]
2012–2014Chaire Blaise Pascal in Paris
From 2012 to 2014 he held the Chaire Blaise Pascal in Paris.[5]
2013London Talk on the Consequences of AI Success
In a 2013 talk in London he said: “Success would be the biggest event in human history … and perhaps the last event in human history.”[6]
April 2015Addresses the UN on Autonomous Weapons
In April 2015 he addressed the United Nations meeting on Lethal Autonomous Weapons Systems in Geneva on Artificial Intelligence: Implications for Autonomous Weapons.[7]
He regards the uncontrolled development of autonomous weapons as perhaps the most imminent risk from AI.[8]
April 2017TED Talk on Three Principles
In a TED talk he proposed redefining AI: a machine’s only objective is to maximise the realisation of human preferences, yet it is uncertain what they are and learns about them mainly by observing human choices; he called the second principle a “law of humility.”[9]
December 9, 2018Appears on the Lex Fridman Podcast
He appeared on episode 9 of the Lex Fridman Podcast, titled “Long-Term Future of AI”; the episode description presents him as a Berkeley computer science professor and co-author of Artificial Intelligence: A Modern Approach.[10]
2019Publishes Human Compatible
In 2019 he published Human Compatible: AI and the Problem of Control (Viking/Penguin), and that year received the AAAI Feigenbaum Prize.[5]
In the book he argues that AI systems built on the “Standard Model” pursue only the objectives put into them, so that a wrong objective becomes more dangerous as capabilities grow, which he calls the King Midas problem.[11]
Before publication he said of optimists who claim superhuman AI can never be built: “I think this is just dishonest.”[6]
The book has been translated into Chinese, Japanese, Korean, German and other languages.[12]
2021OBE and the Reith Lectures
In 2021 he was appointed OBE by the Queen and selected as Reith Lecturer.[5]
Ahead of the lectures he said AI researchers were “increasingly spooked” by their own success, compared AI’s advance with the development of the atomic bomb and called for international treaties to regulate the technology.[3]
His four-lecture series, Living With Artificial Intelligence, addressed the existential threat from machines more powerful than humans and offered a way forward; BBCBBCThe BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation) is the United Kingdom’s public broadcaster. Its predecessor was the British Broadcasting Company, formed in 1922, and since 1927 it has been established under a Royal Charter. It provides television, radio, and online services in the UK, is funded mainly by the television licence fee, and broadcasts worldwide in multiple languages through BBC World Service.Open the full entry introduced him as founder of the Center for Human-Compatible Artificial Intelligence at Berkeley.[13]
The first lecture, The Biggest Event in Human History, was recorded at the Alan Turing Institute at the British Library in London.[14]
2022Inaugural Director of the Kavli Center
In 2022 he was selected as inaugural director of Berkeley’s newly created Kavli Center for Ethics, Science, and the Public.[2]
July 25, 2023Testifies Before the U.S. Senate
He testified with Yoshua BengioYoshua BengioYoshua Bengio is a professor of computer science at Université de Montréal, founder of Mila and a deep learning pioneer who shared the 2018 Turing Award with Geoffrey Hinton and Yann LeCun; since 2023 he has turned to AI safety research, chairing the International AI Safety Report and founding the non-profit LawZero in 2025. He appeared on the Lex Fridman Podcast in 2018.Open the full entry and Dario AmodeiDario AmodeiDario Amodei is an artificial intelligence researcher and the co-founder and chief executive officer of Anthropic. Trained in physics and biophysics, he conducted research at Baidu, Google Brain, and OpenAI, where he led research including work on GPT-2 and GPT-3. His career spans large-model development, AI safety, interpretability, and public policy.Open the full entry at the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee hearing “Oversight of A.I.: Principles for Regulation.”[15]
As of October 2026: Current Roles and Honors
He is Distinguished Professor of Computer Science and Smith-Zadeh Professor in Engineering at Berkeley, Professor of Computational Precision Health at UCSF and an Honorary Fellow of Wadham College, Oxford.[7]
CHAI aims to reorient AI research from achieving arbitrary objectives towards provably beneficial behaviour.[16]
His research covers provably intelligent systems based on the mathematical framework of bounded optimality, learning probability models such as Bayesian networks, first-order open-universe probability models and the BLOG language, state estimation and the long-term future of AI; his group’s Bayesian nuclear-test monitoring system runs at the UN’s International Data Centre in Vienna, generating daily bulletins.[8]
Related Organizations, Websites, and Public Accounts
Personal website: Public link: https://people.eecs.berkeley.edu/~russell/ (opens in a new window)[7]
University of California, Berkeley: Official website: https://www.berkeley.edu/ (opens in a new window)[7]
Center for Human-Compatible Artificial Intelligence: Official website: https://humancompatible.ai/ (opens in a new window)[16]
Kavli Center for Ethics, Science, and the Public: Official website: https://kavlicenter.berkeley.edu/ (opens in a new window)[17]
Sources
- Stuart Russell, Curriculum Vitae (opens in a new window)
- Our People – Center for Human-Compatible Artificial Intelligence (opens in a new window)
- ‘Yeah, we’re spooked’: AI starting to have big real-world impact, says expert (opens in a new window)
- Artificial Intelligence: A Modern Approach, 4th US ed. (opens in a new window)
- Stuart Russell -- Biography (opens in a new window)
- Warning! AI Is Heading for a Cliff - Cal Alumni Association (opens in a new window)
- Stuart Russell (opens in a new window)
- Stuart Russell -- Research areas (opens in a new window)
- Stuart Russell: 3 principles for creating safer AI | TED Talk (opens in a new window)
- Stuart Russell: Long-Term Future of AI | Lex Fridman Podcast (opens in a new window)
- AI could be a disaster for humanity. A top computer scientist thinks he has the solution. (opens in a new window)
- Stuart Russell -- Human Compatible (opens in a new window)
- Reith Lectures: AI and why people should be scared (opens in a new window)
- BBC Radio 4 - The Reith Lectures, Stuart Russell - Living With Artificial Intelligence, The Biggest Event in Human History (opens in a new window)
- Oversight of A.I.: Principles for Regulation (opens in a new window)
- About – Center for Human-Compatible Artificial Intelligence (opens in a new window)
- Home | Kavli Center for Ethics, Science, and the Public (opens in a new window)