Roman Yampolskiy

Roman Yampolskiy is a Latvian-born computer scientist known for his writing and research on AI, particularly writing about the possible risks of artificial general intelligence (AGI). Yampolskiy is an associate professor in the department of Computer Engineering and Computer Science at the Speed School of Engineering, University of Louisville, founding the Cyber Security Lab. Yampolskiy’s main areas of research are AI safety, behavioral biometrics, cybersecurity, digital forensics, games, genetic algorithms, and pattern recognition. He has authored over one hundred publications, including multiple journal articles and books. His research has been profiled in popular magazines, including New Scientist, and information sources such as BBC, MSNBC, and Yahoo.

Yampolskiy was born on August 13, 1979, in Riga, Latvia. He attended Monroe Community Community in Rochester, New York, between 1998 and 2000, leaving with an associate degree in computer science. Yampolskiy studied for a BS/MS combined degree in computer science with high honors between 2000 and 2004 at the Rochester Institute of Technology. He completed his computer science and engineering PhD studies at the University at Buffalo in 2008. His dissertation, under Dr. Venu Govindaraju, was titled "Behavioral Biometrics for Computer Security." After his PhD, Yampolskiy held a position as an affiliate academic at the Center for Advanced Spatial Analysis, University of London, College of London, before joining the University of Louisville as an assistant professor in August 2008.

During his tenure at the University of Louisville, Yampolskiy has received a number of honors and distinctions, including professor of the year and the outstanding early career in education award. Yampolskiy is a member of the IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) and the Kentucky Academy of Science, research advisor for MIRI (Machine Intelligence Research Institute), and an associate of GCRI (Global Catastrophic Risk Institute). Dr. Yampolskiy is also an alumnus of Singularity University and a visiting fellow of the Singularity Institute (Machine Intelligence Research Institute).

Books written by Yampolskiy include the following:

• Artificial Superintelligence: A Futuristic Approach (2015)
• Game Strategy: a Novel Behavioral Biometric (2009)
• Computer Security: From Passwords to Behavioral Biometrics (2008)
• Feature Extraction Approaches for Optical Character Recognition (2007)

Yampoliskiy has become known for warning about the possible risks of advanced AI systems and advocating for the introduction of AI safety features. A book written by Yampolskiy, titled AI: Unexplainable, Unpredictable, Uncontrollable, will be published in 2024.