Chicago Debate Showcase
Manling Li
Assistant Professor of Computer Science
Kuruganti Junior Faculty Fellow
Northwestern University
Head, Multimodal Learning and Language Lab
AI researcher building language, vision, and robotics models that reason, plan, and interact with the physical world.
Biography
Manling
- AI agents
- Multimodal AI
- Reasoning and planning
- Robotics
- Foundation models
- Embodied AI
Manling Li is an assistant professor of Computer Science at Northwestern University and the Kuruganti Junior Faculty Fellow. She leads the Multimodal Learning and Language Lab and is an affiliate faculty member of Northwestern’s Center for Robotics and Biosystems.
Her research connects language, vision, reasoning, planning and robotics. Her team develops foundation models and AI agents that interact with dynamic environments, moving from systems that generate information toward embodied agents that can act in the world.
Li earned her PhD in Computer Science at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and conducted postdoctoral research at Stanford. Her honors include a Microsoft Research PhD Fellowship, EECS Rising Stars recognition and MIT Technology Review’s Innovators Under 35. Her work has received the ACL Outstanding Paper Award and ACL and NAACL Best Demo Paper awards.
At the Chicago Debate Showcase
Why this question
In this debate, Li asks whether every consequential AI action needs an individual human approval step. She is interested in how verification, reversibility and audit trails can create accountability, and where human involvement remains necessary.
Upcoming appearance
Chicago Debate Showcase
WhenWednesday, October 21, 2026
WhereThe Ferris, 1 W. Monroe Street, Chicago, IL
Doors5:30 p.m. Chicago time
Confirmed debate. AI agents, healthcare, and human oversight
Resolved: Human approval should be the default for consequential actions taken by AI agents in healthcare.
Until doors open.
See the ideas meet the room.
Join Manling Li at the Chicago Debate Showcase for live debate, audience questions, and conversation at The Ferris.
Tickets from $30.
Northwestern faculty profile (opens in a new tab)Multimodal Learning and Language Lab (opens in a new tab)Kuruganti Junior Faculty Fellowship (opens in a new tab)