Interview with Leon van der Torre
Can you briefly introduce yourself?
I was born in Rotterdam on 18 March 1968 and I am a full professor of computer science at the University of Luxembourg and head of the Individual and Collective Reasoning (ICR) group at the Faculty of Science, Technology and Communication. My main research interests concern deontic logic and multi-agent systems, with a special glance on logic for AI. I am the deputy editor in chief of the Journal of Applied Logics – IfCoLoG Journal of Logics and their Applications. My main stance is that there are no applications without in depth theory. Since 2000, I am married to the artist Egberdien van der Peijl with whom I have two sons.
What are the main research challenges you are working on now?
I am mainly addressing basic research challenges in unifying modal preference based semantics and norm based semantics in deontic logic, aligning formal argumentation with deontic logic/normative systems and social network theory. I also works on applications of reasoning in space AI, social robots, and legal AI.
What are in your opinion the main research challenges in AIs, robotics and reasoning?
In my view, Artificial Intelligence lost the connection with its roots. Since Aristotle, logics and mathematics are at the basis of formal reasoning, while in recent years AI systems are seen as “black boxes” able to take decisions but unable to provide logical explanations for their decisions. For this reason, many researchers recently advocated the need of more Explainable AI systems. AI in computer science also needs to be reunited with cognitive science in psychology and mathematics, in order to responsibly manage expectations of AI in society.
What are your favorite online resources?
I am subscribed to several mailing lists (IAAIL, PHILOS-L, Robotics, UAI, LOGIC, agents, Folli, etc.) as well as newsletter such as the ChinAI newsletter, that I read regularly to remain aware of the progresses done by the different scientific communities. For teaching, I usually refer to material available at the MIT OpenCourseWare.
What are your aims outside of academia?
I like to fly, and China is indeed one of my favorite countries in which flying. I also like to travel; concerning China, in particular I love to all train tracks to Russia. For the forthcoming year, I would to learn Chinese as I am planning to spend part of my sabbatical at Zhejiang University.