In this talk, guest speaker Ritwik Gupta will discuss foundational research in artificial intelligence to better understand physical sensing modalities such as radar and optical light. He will discuss his deployment of these technologies to operational disaster and wartime environments. Finally, Gupta will discuss how technical breakthroughs can be used to both inform better policy decisions, and how to use AI to build better tools for domains such as open source intelligence (OSINT) and wargaming.
About the Speaker:
Ritwik Gupta is an Assistant Professor at the University of Maryland, College Park in Computer Science and AI. His research focuses on artificial intelligence for physical sensing modalities in low signal-to-noise regimes such in remote sensing or active sensing. Additionally, Gupta’s research focuses on the dual-use policy issues surrounding the use of AI in civilian and military contexts. His work has found widespread use in tasks such as assessing building damage after the 2023 Turkey-Syria earthquake and detecting and interdicting criminals engaged in illegal activities on the ocean. Gupta's research has been widely covered in press outlets such as TIME, the Wall Street Journal, and CNN.
Gupta is also a Non-Resident Fellow with the Berkeley Risk and Security Lab and a Research Fellow at the Berkeley Human Rights Center. He served as the Technical Director for Autonomy at the U.S. Department of Defense’s Defense Innovation Unit from 2022-2026 and as the Advisor on AI and AI Policy to the Director of the FBI from 2023-2025. He previously led a research lab focused on AI for humanitarian assistance and disaster response at Carnegie Mellon University and led real-time machine learning development for the Apple Vision Pro.