PostDoc in Hybrid Intelligence: Who is in control?

Did you ever wonder how to make responsible & adaptable AI that takes critical decisions such as medical advice considering your personal history? If yes, help us developing guardrails to control conversational AI in the Hybrid Intelligence project.

Jouw functie

In this PD position, you will experiment with conversational AI by combining Large Language Models with a long-term memory in the form of a Knowledge Graph and to equip the AI to respond to users in conversations by reasoning over this memory. The reasoning over the memory results in a list of critical knowledge states. The agent needs to choose which knowledge state to address in the response. These choices can be ranked using Reinforcement Learning to strive to an optimal state of the knowledge.

Your duties

• create conversational AI that combines Large Language Models, Knowledge Graphs and Reinforcement learning
• develop a train and test framework
• carry out your research according to international standards
• and at least one publication per year in an A or B ranked journal or conference proceedings
• make your research and experiments publicly available and reproducible

Jouw profiel

• PhD in Computational Linguistics, Computer Science or Artificial Intelligence
• At least two of the following:
  • knowledge of and experience with Large Language Models
  • knowledge of and experience with Knowledge Graphs
  • knowledge of and experience with Reinforcement Learning

As a university, we strive for equal opportunities for all, recognising that diversity takes many forms. We believe that diversity in all its complexity is invaluable for the quality of our teaching, research and service. We are always looking for talent with diverse backgrounds and experiences. This also means that we are committed to creating an inclusive community so that we can use diversity as an asset.

We realise that each individual brings a unique set of skills, expertise and mindset. Therefore we are happy to invite anyone who recognises themselves in the profile to apply, even if you do not meet all the requirements.

Wat bieden wij

A challenging position in a socially engaged organisation. At VU Amsterdam, you contribute to education, research and service for a better world. And that is valuable. So in return for your efforts, we offer you:

• a starting salary of EUR 4.227,- (scale 10.5) gross per month, on a full-time basis. This is based on UFO profile Researcher 4
• a position for at least 0.8 FTE. Your employment contract will initially last 1 year with a possible 24-month extension

We also offer you attractive fringe benefits and regulations. Some examples:

• a full-time 38-hour working week comes with a holiday leave entitlement of 232 hours per year. If you choose to work 40 hours, you have 96 extra holiday leave hours on an annual basis. For part-timers, this is calculated pro rata.
• 8% holiday allowance and 8.3% end-of-year bonus
• solid pension scheme (ABP)
• child daycare facilities available on campus
• good paid parental leave scheme

Over ons

About the department, institute, project

This project is part of a national gravity project on Hybrid Intelligence. Hybrid Intelligence is the combination of human and machine intelligence, expanding human intellect instead of replacing it. Our goal is to design Hybrid Intelligent systems, an approach to Artificial Intelligence that puts humans at the centre, changing the course of the ongoing AI revolution. You will collaborate with many researchers on key notions such as collaborative, explainable, adaptable and responsible AI and you will have access to lab facilities with technical support. The Hybrid Intelligence project is recruiting about 30 PhDs and PostDocs in total.

The research is further embedded in the Computational Lexicology and Terminology Lab (CLTL), which is one of the world’s leading research groups in Human Language technology. Prof. dr. Piek Vossen, recipient of the NWO Spinoza Prize, heads the group of international researchers that are working on ground-breaking projects, among which the Spinoza project ‘Understanding Language by Machines’. Within that framework several researchers are working on the Leolani project, with which the PD will also collaborate.