Roman Yampolskiy

Roman Vladimirovich Yampolskiy (Russian: Роман Владимирович Ямпольский; born 13 August, 1979) is a computer scientist at the University of Louisville, mostly known for his work on AI safety and cybersecurity. He founded the Cybersecurity Lab in the department of Computer Engineering and Computer Science at the Speed School of Engineering of the University of Louisville. He opposes the development of artificial superintelligence, arguing that it cannot be controlled. He said in 2024 that he believed AI to be 99.9% likely to eliminate humanity within a century. Yampolskiy was born in Riga, Latvia.[2] He attended Monroe Community College before moving to Rochester Institute of Technology, where he received a combined B.S. and M.S. degree in computer science in 2004. He received a Ph.D. in computer science from the University at Buffalo in 2008,[3] under the supervision of Venu Govindaraju. His thesis was on intrusion detection and he conducted research at the Center for Unified Biometrics and Sensors of the University at Buffalo.[4] After his doctorate, Yampolskiy spent time at the Centre for Advanced Spatial Analysis at University College London before accepting a position as an assistant professor at the University of Louisville in 2008.[5][6] Yampolskiy founded the Cybersecurity Lab in the department of Computer Engineering and Computer Science at the Speed School of Engineering of the University of Louisville in 2008 and directed it for a number of years.[7] Yampolskiy is considered to have coined the term "AI safety" in a 2011 publication, and is an early researcher in the field.[8][9]