Prof. Frank van Harmelen

Principal Investigator

Profs. Jonker and Van Harmelen are jointly leading the Hybrid Intelligence Center where dozens of research across 7 Dutch universities are investigating AI systems that collaborate with people instead of replacing them. Prof. Catholijn Jonker is well known for her work on multi-agent systems (that predate the current interest in “agentic AI”), in particular joint human-AI negotiation systems. Prof. Frank van Harmelen is a leading researcher on neuro-symbol AI: systems that combine statistical machine learning with logic-based reasoning.

Prof. Frank van Harmelen, Prof. Catholijn Jonker

From Tools to Teammates: Agentic AI needs Hybrid Intelligence

The current AI revolution envisions a world of "agentic" workflows, where AI agents collaborate seamlessly to solve complex tasks. However, the focus on autonomy overlooks a critical ingredient: us. We will discuss that the future of agentic AI belongs to Hybrid Intelligence: redefining AI from an isolated tool to a collaborative teammate. Keeping humans in the loop is indispensable: to unlock the implicit, undocumented knowledge that lives only in our minds, to build genuine trust in automated outcomes, and to ensure deep alignment with complex ethical and cultural standards. We will discuss how to design human-AI ecosystems that elevate machine capability while actively preventing human deskilling.

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