Putting the A back into AI
Cs Distinguished Lecture Series
October 16, 2025
11:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Putting the A back into AI
Presenter: Lise Getoor, University of California. Santa Cruz
Abstract: We’re in the midst one of the most significant investments in AI technology of all time, with boomers and doomers alike claiming that AGI is right around the corner. While the hype can be enticing, intoxicating or infuriating, it is important for us all to step back and remember that the algorithms that are being developed are artificial. Which means that as creators of technology, we have the agency and the responsibility to design these artificial algorithms with care. In this talk, Getoor will review some of the mathematical assumptions behind key AI algorithms, introduce a map of AI mindsets, and discuss their impact on human agency, autonomy and generative drive. Getoor will explain why emphasizing the “Artificial” in “Artificial Intelligence” is important, and why we, as a community, need to be advocating for more thoughtful AI design and policy.
Speaker bio: Lise Getoor is a distinguished professor and Baskin Endowed Chair ofe computer science at UC Santa Cruz. She is known for her work which combines logic and probability, her research in graphs, and her work integrating neural and symbolic reasoning. Getoor's work has applications spanning data integration, social media analysis and data privacy. She is a recipient of fourteen best paper awards and is a Fellow of American Academy of Arts and Sciences (AAA&S), American Association for Advancement of Science (AAAS), Association for Computing Machinery (ACM), the Association for Advancement of Artificial Intelligence (AAAI), and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). In 2024, Getoor received the prestigious KDD Innovation Award. She received her PhD from Stanford University in 2001, her MS from UC Berkeley, and her BS from UC Santa Barbara.
This meeting will also be live streamed.
Faculty host: Elena Zheleva
Date posted
Oct 3, 2025
Date updated
Oct 3, 2025