Biographies

J J Bryson

http://www.cs.bath.ac.uk/~jjb/
Full CV is available from http://www.cs.bath.ac.uk/~jjb/web/jb.html

150 character bio, May 2020

Expert in both natural and artificial intelligence, Bryson publishes in both natural and social sciences, as well as ethics and technology policy.

Hertie Bio, Dec 2019 (800 characters)

Bryson is recognised for broad expertise on intelligence and its impacts, advising governments, transnational agencies, and NGOs globally. She holds two degrees each in psychology and AI (BA Chicago, MSc & MPhil Edinburgh, PhD MIT). From 2002-19 she was Computer Science faculty at Bath; she has also been affiliated with Harvard Psychology, Oxford Anthropology, Mannheim Social Science Research, and the Princeton Center for Information Technology Policy. During her PhD she observed confusion generated by anthropomorphised AI, leading to her first AI ethics publication “Just Another Artifact” in 1998. In 2010 she coauthored the first national-level AI ethics policy, the UK's Principles of Robotics. She presently researches the impact of technology on human cooperation, and AI/ICT governance.

Hertie Bio, Feb 2020 (1400 characters)

Joanna J Bryson is an academic recognised for broad expertise on intelligence, its nature, and its consequences. She advises governments, transnational agencies, and NGOs globally, particularly in AI policy. She holds two degrees each in psychology and AI (BA Chicago, MSc & MPhil Edinburgh, PhD MIT). Her work has appeared in venues ranging from reddit to the journal Science.  From 2002-19 she was Computer Science faculty at the University of Bath; she has also been affiliated with Harvard Psychology, Oxford Anthropology, The Mannheim Centre for Social Science Research, The Konrad Lorenz Institute for Evolution and Cognition Research, and the Princeton Center for Information Technology Policy. During her PhD she first observed the confusion generated by anthropomorphised AI, leading to her first AI ethics publication “Just Another Artifact” in 1998. She has remained active in the field including coauthoring the first national-level AI ethics policy, the UK's (2011) Principles of Robotics. She continues to research both the systems engineering of AI and the cognitive science of intelligence, with present focusses on the impact of technology on human cooperation, and new models of governance for AI and ICT. She is presently the Hertie School's Professor of Ethics and Technology, a position she took up on 1 February 2020.

First Hertie Bio, Nov 2019 (300 words)

Joanna Joy Bryson is a globally-recognised leader in intelligence broadly, including AI policy and AI ethics. She holds two degrees each in psychology (BA Chicago & MPhil Edinburgh) and AI (MSc Edinburgh & PhD MIT). From 2002-2019 she was employed in the Computer Science department at the University of Bath, and she has also held postdoctoral, sabbatical, and visiting positions at Harvard in Psychology, Oxford in Anthropology, Nottingham and Mannheim in Social Science Research, The Konrad Lorenz Institute for Evolution and Cognition Research, and the Princeton Center for Information Technology Policy. Her original academic focus was the use of artificial intelligence for scientific simulations of natural cognitive systems. During her PhD she first observed the confusion generated by anthropomorphised AI, leading to her first AI ethics publication “Just Another Artifact” in 1998. In 2010 her work in AI ethics was first recognised by a policy body when she was invited to participate in the UK research councils' Robot Ethics retreat, where she was a key author of the UK's (EPSRC/AHRC) “Principles of Robotics”, the world’s first national-level AI ethics soft policy. Since then she has continued researching the impact of technology on economies and human cooperation, transparency for AI systems, and participated in numerous policy discussions for the UK (parliament, royal society, RCUK, FCA), EU/EP/EC, OECD, Red Cross, Chatham House, WEF, UN as well as national governments and NGOs in Switzerland, the US, Canada, and Germany. At Bath she founded the Computer Science Department’s Artificial Intelligence research group, and she still directs outreach and impact for the UK's only Centre for Doctoral Training in AI ethics, the Accountable, Responsible, and Transparent AI (ART-AI) Centre. She is arriving at Hertie in February 2020 to take up their full professorship on Ethics and Technology.

Less academic Hertie, 100 words, 2020

Joanna J. Bryson is a transdisciplinary researcher on the structure and dynamics of human- and animal-like intelligence. Her research covering  topics from artificial intelligence, through autonomy and robot ethics, and on to technology policy and human cooperation has appeared in venues ranging from a reddit to Science.  She holds degrees in Psychology from Chicago and Edinburgh, and Artificial Intelligence from Edinburgh and MIT. She has additional professional research experience from Princeton, Oxford, Harvard, and LEGO, and technical experience in Chicago's financial industry, and international management consultancy. Bryson is presently Professor of Ethics and Technology at Hertie School of Governance.

Diplomatic Hertie, 60 words, 2019

Joanna Bryson is expert in intelligence – both natural and artificial. With degrees in Social and Computer Sciences from Chicago, Edinburgh and MIT, her scientific research appears in venues from reddit to Science, and her policy voice is heard in the UN, EU, CoE, OSCE, and OECD.  From February 2020, Bryson will be Professor of Ethics and Technology at the Hertie School of Governance, Berlin.

More academic, early 2019

Joanna Bryson is a Reader (tenured Associate Professor) at the University of Bath. She has broad academic interests in the structure and utility of intelligence, both natural and artificial.  Venues for her research range from reddit to Science.  She is best known for her work in systems AI and AI ethics, both of which she began during her PhD in the 1990s, but she and her colleagues publish broadly, in biology, anthropology, sociology, philosophy, cognitive science, and politics.  Current projects include  “The Limits of Transparency for Humanoid Robotics” funded by AXA Research, and “Public Goods and Artificial Intelligence” (with Alin Coman of Princeton University’s Department of Psychology and Mark Riedl of Georgia Tech) funded by Princeton’s University Center for Human Values.  Other current research includes understanding the causality behind the correlation between wealth inequality and political polarization, generating transparency for AI systems, and research on machine prejudice deriving from human semantics.  She holds degrees in Psychology from Chicago and Edinburgh, and in Artificial Intelligence from Edinburgh and MIT.  At Bath she founded the Artificial Intelligence research group (one of four in the Department of Computer Science) and heads their Artificial Models of Natural Intelligence. Bryson is director of outreach and impact for the UK's only Centre for Doctoral Training in AI ethics, the Accountable, Responsible, and Transparent AI (ART-AI) Bath.

More rock-n-roll (August 2019)

Joanna Bryson is an Associate Professor (Reader) at the University of Bath. Bryson’s first and third degrees were in Psychology (Chicago, Edinburgh), while her second and fourth were in Artificial Intelligence (Edinburgh, MIT), so she approaches AI from the perspective and for the purpose of understanding human behaviour. Before her postgraduate education she did programming and system administration in Chicago's financial industry, and between graduate degrees she consulted for a number of companies on AI, notably LEGO. Bryson has worked off and on in AI ethics since 1996; her first work in policy was as coauthoring the UK research councils’ Principles of Robotics in 2010. Policy work and supporting systems AI research now takes up increasing amounts of her time. In the past few years she’s consulted to the Swiss National Science Foundation and the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research on the impact of AI on society, the Red Cross on autonomous weapons, Chatham House on the impact of AI on the nuclear threat, the OSCE and WEF on AI and cybersecurity, and the UN on social media, the militarisation of AI, and its governance. She has also spoken on the regulation of AI to the Council of Europe, the British Parliament, Government, and Financial Conduct Authority, the Canadian Government, the European Parliament and Commission, the OECD, and the US Federal Reserve.  She further engages directly with corporations on AI policy, most infamously with Google, but also Facebook, airbnb, Microsoft, salesforce and others.

More academic rock-n-roll (August 2019)

Joanna Bryson is an Associate Professor (Reader) at the University of Bath. Bryson holds a BA and MPhil in Psychology (Chicago, Edinburgh), and an MSc and PhD in Artificial Intelligence (Edinburgh, MIT). Before her postgraduate education she did programming and system administration in Chicago's financial industry, and between graduate degrees she consulted for a number of companies on AI, notably LEGO. Bryson has worked off and on in AI ethics since 1996; her first work in policy was as coauthoring the UK research councils’ Principles of Robotics in 2010. In the recent years she has consulted to the Swiss National Science Foundation and the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research on the impact of AI on society, the Red Cross on autonomous weapons, Chatham House on the impact of AI on the nuclear threat, the OSCE and WEF on AI and cybersecurity, and the UN on social media, the militarisation of AI, and its governance. She has also spoken on the regulation of AI to the Council of Europe, the British Parliament, Government, and Financial Conduct Authority, the Canadian Government, the European Parliament and Commission, the OECD, and the US Federal Reserve.  She further engages directly with corporations on AI policy, including Google (ongoing as well as their short-lived Advanced Technology External Advisory Committee), Facebook, airbnb, Microsoft, and salesforce. Bryson is director of outreach and impact for the UK's only Centre for Doctoral Training in AI ethics, the Accountable, Responsible, and Transparent AI (ART-AI) Centre at Bath.

For grant applications (Aug 2019)

Joanna Bryson is a globally-recognised leader in both artificial intelligence itself and AI ethics. With two degrees each in psychology and AI (BA Chicago, MSc & MPhil Edinburgh, PhD MIT) her original focus was the use of artificial intelligence for scientific simulations of natural cognitive systems. During her PhD she first observed the confusion generated by anthropomorphised AI, leading to her first AI ethics publication “Just Another Artifact” in 1998. In 2010 her work in AI ethics was first recognised by a policy body when she was invited to participate in the EPSRC/AHRC Robot Ethics retreat, where she was a key author of the EPSRC/AHRC “Principles of Robotics”, the world’s first national-level AI ethics soft policy. Since then she has continued researching the impact of technology on economies and human cooperation, transparency for AI systems, and participated in numerous policy opportunities for the UK (parliament, royal society, RCUK, FCA), EU/EP/EC, OECD, Red Cross, Chatham House, WEF, UN as well as national government and NGOs in Switzerland, the US, Canada, and Germany. She came to Bath in 2002 where she founded the Computer Science Department’s Artificial Intelligence research group, and she was made Reader in 2010. She directs outreach and impact for the UK's only Centre for Doctoral Training in AI ethics, the Accountable, Responsible, and Transparent AI (ART-AI) Centre at Bath.

Longer (by Eugenia Zuroski, for the McMaster Whidden Lectures, February 2018)

There is no pithy or efficient way, I discovered, of summarizing Joanna Bryson’s area of expertise and academic credentials. She is currently a Reader (Associate Professor) in the Department of Computer Science at the University of Bath, and an affiliate of Princeton University’s Center for Information Technology Policy. She holds degrees in psychology and behavioral science from the University of Chicago and the University of Edinburgh, and degrees in Artificial Intelligence from the University of Edinburgh and MIT. At Bath, she founded the Artificial Intelligence research group and heads their Artificial Models of Natural Intelligence. She has held fellowships in various fields at Harvard, the University of Nottingham, the Konrad Lorenz Institute for Evolution and Cognition in Austria, and Oxford University. Dr. Bryson has published widely and copiously in venues ranging from the top academic journal Science to the website Reddit (where she hosted an outstanding Ask Me Anything thread last year). She has lent her expertise to various governments as a consultant on AI ethics, to the Red Cross on autonomous weaponry, and to LEGO in the development of the Mindstorms series.

Broadly, Dr. Bryson’s research demonstrates a deep and sustained engagement with cognition and intelligence both natural and artificial. Her scholarly trajectory has been driven by remarkable creative energy and fluid movement between different areas of expertise in order to frame and address complex problems concerning human behavior, society, governance, and ethics.

Members bio for the University of Bath Council, 270 words, 2017ish

Joanna J. Bryson is a transdisciplinary researcher on the structure and dynamics of human- and animal-like intelligence. Her research covers topics ranging from artificial intelligence, through autonomy and robot ethics, and on to human cooperation.  Her work has appeared in venues ranging from a reddit to Science.

Bryson's first degree is in Behavioural Science (non-clinical psychology) from Chicago (1986), she also holds an MSc in Artificial Intelligence and an MPhil in Psychology from Edinburgh (1992, 2000) and a PhD in Artificial Intelligence from MIT (2001). She joined Bath in 2002 in their Department of Computer Science, where she was promoted to Reader (tenured associate professor) in 2010. She founded and for several years lead their Artificial Intelligence research group, and is affiliated with Bath's Institutes for Policy Research and Mathematical Innovation, as well as their Centres for Networks and Collective Behaviour and for Digital Entertainment.  She has held visiting academic positions with Princeton's Center for Information Technology Policy,  the Mannheim Centre for Social Science Research (MZES, 2011-2014), the Department of Anthropology Oxford (Harvey Whitehouse's Explaining Religion project, 2010-2011), The Methods & Data Institute at Nottingham (agent-based modelling in political science 2007-2008), and the Konrad Lorenz Institute for Evolution & Cognition Research in Austria (on the biological origins of culture, 2007- 2009).  Before coming to Bath, she conducted academic research in Edinburgh's Human Communication Research Centre (1999-2000), and Harvard's Department of Psychology (2001-2002). Additionally, she has professional experience in Chicago's financial industry (1986-1991), international organization management consultancy (1993-1994), and industrial AI research (for LEGO, 1995, 1998). 

Bryson has served on the Senate, Council, and Court for the University of Bath, representing the Academic Assembly. She is presently a member of the College of the British Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) and serves as a member of the editorial board for several academic journals, including Adaptive Behaviour, AI & Society, Connection Science, and The International Journal of Synthetic Emotions.

Sun 17 May 2020 18:20:21 CEST