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<p><b>Call for application: </b>1.5-year post-doc position in the
ethics of open-ended learning in robotics and AI, Sorbonne
University, Paris, France<br>
<br>
<b>Context: </b>The PILLAR-Robots European project
(<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://pillar-robots.eu">https://pillar-robots.eu</a>) aims at developing a new generation of
robots endowed with a higher level of autonomy, that are able to
determine their own goals and establish their own strategies,
creatively building on the experience acquired during their
lifetime to fulfil the requests of their human designers/users in
real-life application use-cases. To do so, it aims to implement a
new theoretical extension of the reinforcement learning formalism,
called the purpose framework*, which constitutes a
domain-independent abstraction of a set of goals that expresses
what the designer/user wants from the robot. This enables us to
constraint robots’ autonomous exploration and learning to (1)
focus on task-relevant objects and parts of the environment, and
to (2) avoid reaching particular states of the environment or
acting in ways that misalign with humans’ objectives, preferences
and values.<br>
<br>
* Baldassarre, G., Duro, R. J., Cartoni, E., Khamassi, M., Romero,
A., & Santucci, V. G. (2024). Purpose for Open-Ended Learning
Robots: A Computational Taxonomy, Definition, and
Operationalisation. arXiv preprint arXiv:2403.02514.<br>
<br>
<b>Location and environment: </b>The post-doc position will be
located in the Institute of Intelligent Systems and Robotics
(ISIR, <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.isir.upmc.fr">http://www.isir.upmc.fr</a>), Paris, France. ISIR belongs to
Sorbonne Université, CNRS and INSERM, and is located in the center
of Paris, thus at walking distance from Seine River, from other
academic institutions (La Sorbonne, Collège de France, Muséum
d'Histoire Naturelle, Ecole Normale Supérieure, Université Paris
Cité, Hôpital la Pitié Salpêtrière), and from famous monuments
(Notre Dame, Conciergerie, Panthéon, Théâtre du Châtelet, Institut
du Monde Arabe). Speaking or understanding French is not required.
This work will be done in close collaborations with philosophers,
engineers and computational neuroscientists of the PILLAR-Robots
European consortium.<br>
<br>
<b>Missions: </b>The post-doc work will investigate possibilities
of alignment and misalignement in such purposeful open-ended
learning robots. In particular, research shall be done on how the
combination of PILLAR’s robot motivational engine relying on the
purpose framework with large language models (LLMs) can facilitate
alignment, and under which conditions. Explainability, trust and
efficient human-robot coordination will be evaluated in a set of
real-world scenarios, corresponding to the project's three use
cases: a warehouse scenario, an agricultural robotics scenario and
an edutainment scenario. An ethical analysis will be carried out
by consulting consortium members on all three scenarios.<br>
<br>
<b>Required profile: </b>We are looking for highly motivated
candidates with a strong academic record. An excellent background
is expected in machine learning, AI, cognitive robotics or
computational neuroscience. Significant experience in robot
cognitive architectures, AI alignment, LLMs, or computational
modeling for neuroscience or psychology will be appreciated. Prior
knowledge in philosophy of mind and moral philosophy will be a
plus. Eligibility: PhD degree in a quantitative discipline. There
is no nationality or age criteria.<br>
<br>
<b>Required skills: </b>Mastery of reinforcement learning and
game theory, very good level in applied maths, and advanced
programming skills in modern C++ and python are required. Very
good level of English (written, spoken).</p>
<pre class="moz-signature" cols="72">
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Mehdi Khamassi, PhD, HDR
Research director (DR2), Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique
Institute of Intelligent Systems and Robotics, Sorbonne Université
ISIR - BC 173, 4 place Jussieu, 75005 Paris, France
phone: +33 6 50 76 44 92
email: <a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:mehdi.khamassi@sorbonne-universite.fr">mehdi.khamassi@sorbonne-universite.fr</a>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://pages2.isir.upmc.fr/mkhamassi/">https://pages2.isir.upmc.fr/mkhamassi/</a>
Co-director of the master's program in cognitive science (<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://cog-sup.fr">https://cog-sup.fr</a>)
Sorbonne Université / Université Paris Cité
Visiting Researcher at the Institute of Communication and Computer Systems
National Technical University of Athens, Greece
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://www.iccs.gr/en/?noredirect=en_US">https://www.iccs.gr/en/?noredirect=en_US</a></pre>
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