Johan Loeckx

Artificial Intelligence

I started programming in 1990 when I was 10 years old, after I got a little bit bored from playing computer games on a Commodore 64. I sold my first software application to lawyers when I was 16, to manage their cases.  Soon I started dreaming of intelligent software that would give more interesting and autonomous answers. So I went to the library and tried to recreate AI classics like SHRDLU, Eliza and Bayesian expert systems. It was quite crappy, to be honest, especially because I lacked the mathematical and software engineering background. However, the passion for AI stayed. I studied electronic engineering (MSc) at the K.U.Leuven where I took many AI classes, continued with a one-year Master in AI, and a PhD at K.U.Leuven University, where I used AI-like algorithms and simulators to model the effect of Electromagnetic Radiation on Integrated Circuits and to improve their resilience to it. After my PhD, I thought “never back to academia”! However, I was asked to work on a project combining my three passions. I then returned to academia to work at the Artificial Intelligence Lab of the Vrije Universiteit Brussel, where I currently lead a small “Applied Research” team comprising three postdoctoral researchers and five PhD students.