In this invited talk, I offer a reflective and critical perspective on the evolution and maturity of Requirements Engineering (RE) for Machine Learning (ML) systems. Drawing on nearly a decade of work in the area, I highlight key shifts in focus, recent advances, and persistent limitations. I use current research trends to question how effectively the community builds on prior knowledge in Requirements Engineering, and whether we are genuinely advancing the field or, in some cases, rediscovering well-known problems under new labels. To situate RE for ML within the broader RE landscape, I briefly contrast its trajectory with related directions such as NLP4RE and LLM4RE. I conclude by outlining a small number of forward-looking research challenges, with particular attention to emerging agentic technologies, and by reflecting on how RE can contribute to the responsible development of trustworthy systems with long-term societal impact.

I am a Research Fellow at Lero, the Research Ireland Centre for Software, where I hold a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Fellowship as part of the SyMeCo program to pursue my research project: “Prompt Me: Intelligent Software Agent for Requirements Engineering.” My overall research career focuses on revolutionizing software engineering using artificial intelligence, as well as making AI-based systems more reliable and trustworthy. My research journey has been shaped by diverse international experiences over the past few years.

Before joining Lero, I completed my PhD in a joint program between University College London in the UK and Fondazione Bruno Kessler in Italy, where I explored how to exploit online user feedback to support software engineering practices. I also completed both my MSc and BSc in Electrical Engineering at Warsaw University of Technology in Poland. During my master’s program, I had the opportunity to work as a Junior Researcher at Aalto University in Finland, where I focused on human-robot interactions for my thesis.

Prior to my doctoral studies and immediately afterwards, I worked at Accenture Consulting, where I was responsible for Requirements Engineering, Software System Design, and Digital Transformation