Professor Vasilis Vassalos is leading the Information Processing Lab and is the Director of the MSc in Data Science at Athens University of Economics and Business. His research is in the area of data integration, knowledge generation using ML and AI, and task-oriented dialogue agents. He is a member of the AI Commission at the National Technology and Innovation Council. He’s also a director at the US company AISERA, which has an R&D and engineering team in Greece.
Prof. Vassalos studied Electrical and Computer Engineering in Greece and did his Master’s and Ph.D. in Computer Science at Stanford, US. He started his career teaching at NYU until he came back to Greece in 2003. In 2015, he started the first Master’s Degree in Data Science and ML in Greece. In the span of 8 years, more than 300 students graduated from the program and are now working in various AI companies and institutions.
In this interview with The Recursive, prof. Vassalos highlights Greece’s AI talent and why there’s a burgeoning interest in applied research and development. He shares that AI’s future in Greece’s innovation plans involves integrating computational thinking into school curricula, building national AI infrastructure, and leveraging AI-driven solutions in the public sector. When it comes to AI regulation, prof. Vassalos advocates for a balanced approach that encourages innovation while ensuring oversight, particularly in regulating AI applications.