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A thought-provoking seminar titled "How I learned to stop worrying and love AI" presented by Dr. William Regli from the University of Maryland at USC Information Sciences Institute on April 11, 2025. Explore the contrasting perspectives on artificial intelligence, comparing the optimistic Panglossian view of AI as humanity's "Promethean fire" with the pessimistic outlook focused on existential risks and threats to human safety. Drawing from his extensive experience in public service—including leadership roles at DARPA's Defense Sciences Office (2014-2017), founding director of the Applied Research Laboratory for Intelligence and Security at the University of Maryland (2018-2023), and Senior Advisor for AI Risk Modeling for the Biden Administration's Office of Science and Technology Policy (2023-2024)—Dr. Regli offers a balanced perspective on AI challenges. The presentation emphasizes that current AI narratives are overly techno-philic, argues that we lack sufficient scientific understanding of AI's effects on society to establish rigorous engineering practices, and highlights that AI's impacts will be uneven across different societal levels. Dr. Regli proposes reframing AI challenges as socio-technical problems and presents a practical methodology for identifying emerging scientific and engineering questions related to AI integration with humans and society.
