Science on Tap

A monthly lecture series at UMD that explores the latest discoveries in science and technology in a relaxed atmosphere with food and drink

"How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love AI"

presented by

William Regli
Department of Computer Science
University of Maryland

Tuesday, October 21, 2025
Doors open at 6 p.m.
Lecture begins at 6:30 p.m.

Ledo Pizza
4509 Knox Rd.
College Park, MD 20740

Paid parking is available in the attached city garage, which guests can enter on Yale Avenue. Guests may enter the event venue via the Ledo entrance on the corner of Knox Road and Yale Avenue.

Food and beverages will be available for purchase at the event. 

If you have any questions about attending this event, including disability accommodations, please contact Rena Surana-Nirula at rena@umd.edu or 301-405-6563.

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About the Talk
In Voltaire's Candide, Dr. Pangloss is relentlessly optimistic in the face of novella's unflinching portrait of the human condition; his opposite, Martin, is pessimistic and cynical. Today's developments around artificial intelligence (AI) are being driven by similarly opposing forces. The Panglossian approach views AI as humanity's grasping of Promethean fire whereas others see existential risk and threats to human safety, privacy, and wellbeing. We might hope that the reality is somewhere in between; and we might suspect that the reason for these extreme views is that we probably have the problems around AI framed incorrectly.

This presentation attempts to summarize my personal views regarding AI that I have developed during my decade away from academia in various forms of public service:

• Current AI narratives are techno-philic and need to be re-framed because the thorniest problems are decidedly non-technical; they are mostly about AI's interaction with, and influence on, people and society.
• Unlike physics and engineering, we do not yet have the required level of scientific understanding about AI and its effects on people and society needed to establish rigorous engineering practices and manage its use
• The impacts of AI, operating at various levels in our society (ranging from individuals to our planetary community as a whole), are going to be uneven in scale, speed and impact.

I would rather not merely admire these problems, hence I will try to re-frame them as inherently socio-technical. I will provide a practical methodology for identifying emerging scientific and engineering questions related to the ongoing integration of AI with humans and society. Using this approach, I will provide several examples of research questions that merit investigation. In the end, I hope to provide a unique perspective on recent developments in AI and a tangible means by which we might address these daunting emerging challenges.

About the Speaker
Dr. Regli is a computer scientist who has focused his career on interdisciplinary and use-inspired problems spanning artificial intelligence, engineering and manufacturing, and computational modeling. Dr. Regli’s recent sponsored research activities include verification and validation of intelligent systems; intelligent computer networks; and the use of artificial intelligence in advanced manufacturing. He has published more than 250 technical articles, created two technology companies (one focused on mobile communications for public safety, the other on information management in edge networks), and produced five foundational U.S. Patents in the area of 3D CAD search.

From 2014 to 2017, Regli served on the leadership team of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), as deputy director and acting director of the Defense Sciences Office (DSO); then as special assistant to the DARPA director. During his tenure, DSO initiated programs in areas as diverse as artificial intelligence, design and manufacturing, social science, applied mathematics, physical sciences and advanced sensing technologies; in his role leading DSO he advanced the data management and retention plans for the agency, co-developed the Disruptioneering program template, expanded the DARPA Young Faculty Award, and was the Program Chair for the DARPA 60th anniversary conference. For his contributions, Regli received the Award for Excellence for Meritorious Service (2015) from the Undersecretary of Defense (AT&L) and DARPA Meritorious Public Service Medal (2017). Regli’s other government service includes as a National Research Council Postdoctoral Fellow at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) (1995-1997); as a Scientific Adviser to the U.S. Department of Energy (DoE) in the areas of information technology and manufacturing (2010-2014;2018-); and as a member of the US Air Force Scientific Advisory Board (2019-2021; 2022-). His community service currently includes a role on the Computing Research Association (CRA) Computing Community Consortium (CCC) Advisory Board (2021-) as well as several editorial boards. Regli recently completed service as the founding Executive Director (2018-2023) of the University of Maryland’s University-Affiliated Research Center for the Department of Defense: The Applied Research Laboratory for Intelligence and Security (ARLIS), the chartered DoD academic laboratory for the Intelligence and Security communities. For part of 2023-2024, Regli served in the Executive Offices of the President (EOP), White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP), as a Senior Advisor for AI Risk for the National AI Initiatives Office supporting a variety of activities.

Regli holds a Ph.D. in computer science from the University of Maryland and a bachelor of science degree in mathematics from Saint Joseph's University. He is an elected Senior Member of the Association of Computing Machinery and the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence, a Fellow of the IEEE Computer Society for his contributions to 3D search, design repositories and intelligent manufacturing, and a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science for work at the interface between science and government primarily at DARPA.