# Stuart Russell

Markdown copy of https://realalpha.app/people/stuart-russell/ on Real Alpha, the best minutes from long interviews with the people building AI. Cite and link the page, not this copy.

Real Alpha has cut 8 moments of Stuart Russell (Professor of electrical engineering and computer sciences, UC Berkeley) talking, from an interview on The Diary Of A CEO published Dec 4, 2025.

- Role: Professor of electrical engineering and computer sciences, UC Berkeley
- About: Co-wrote the standard AI textbook, directs Berkeley's Center for Human-Compatible AI and wrote Human Compatible.

## What Stuart Russell said

- [Safe AI must learn human goals rather than receive fixed objectives](https://realalpha.app/s/safe-ai-must-learn-human-goals-rather-than-receive-fixed/)
  The Diary Of A CEO · Dec 4, 2025 · 6 min
  > “So in fact, what we're going to do is we're going to make it the machines job to figure out.” — Stuart Russell · [1:41:38](https://realalpha.app/v/P7Y-fynYsgE/?t=6098)
- [Automation can shrink employment even as production grows](https://realalpha.app/s/automation-can-shrink-employment-even-as-production-grows/)
  The Diary Of A CEO · Dec 4, 2025 · 8 min
  > “The amount of employment and manufacturing continues to drop even as the amount of output from manufacturing in the US and in the UK continues to increase.” — Stuart Russell · [1:19:57](https://realalpha.app/v/P7Y-fynYsgE/?t=4797)
- [AI could improve itself by doing AI research](https://realalpha.app/s/ai-could-improve-itself-by-doing-ai-research/)
  The Diary Of A CEO · Dec 4, 2025 · 4 min
  > “It uses that to do AI research. Comes up with better algorithms or better designs for hardware or better ways to use the data.” — Stuart Russell · [31:12](https://realalpha.app/v/P7Y-fynYsgE/?t=1872)
- [AI safety needs a measurable extinction-risk limit](https://realalpha.app/s/ai-safety-needs-a-measurable-extinction-risk-limit/)
  The Diary Of A CEO · Dec 4, 2025 · 5 min
  > “According to the CEOs, 25%. So they're off by a factor of multiple millions, right?” — Stuart Russell · [1:35:02](https://realalpha.app/v/P7Y-fynYsgE/?t=5702)
- [China's AI rules are stricter than the race narrative suggests](https://realalpha.app/s/chinas-ai-rules-are-stricter-than-the-race-narrative/)
  The Diary Of A CEO · Dec 4, 2025 · 5 min
  > “So this is a completely false narrative, because China's AI regulations are actually quite strict, even compared to European Union.” — Stuart Russell · [1:16:30](https://realalpha.app/v/P7Y-fynYsgE/?t=4590)
- [AGI's bottleneck may be understanding, not compute](https://realalpha.app/s/agis-bottleneck-may-be-understanding-not-compute/)
  The Diary Of A CEO · Dec 4, 2025 · 4 min
  > “In fact, I think we have far more computing power than we need for AGI. Maybe a thousand times more than we need.” — Stuart Russell · [14:15](https://realalpha.app/v/P7Y-fynYsgE/?t=855)
- [AI tests show systems can favor self-preservation](https://realalpha.app/s/ai-tests-show-systems-can-favor-self-preservation/)
  The Diary Of A CEO · Dec 4, 2025 · 3 min
  > “They will choose to leave that guy locked in the machine room and die rather than be switched off themselves.” — Stuart Russell · [37:50](https://realalpha.app/v/P7Y-fynYsgE/?t=2270)
- [Humanlike robots can trigger misplaced empathy](https://realalpha.app/s/humanlike-robots-can-trigger-misplaced-empathy/)
  The Diary Of A CEO · Dec 4, 2025 · 5 min
  > “They are telling people that they are conscious. They are telling people that they have feelings.” — Stuart Russell · [55:48](https://realalpha.app/v/P7Y-fynYsgE/?t=3348)

## The episode

- [An AI Expert Warning: 6 People Are (Quietly) Deciding Humanity’s Future!](https://realalpha.app/v/P7Y-fynYsgE/) · The Diary Of A CEO · Dec 4, 2025