NEWS - Freedom and AI

I am interested in how increasing algorithm use in society can act as an infringement on our agency and alter our perceptions of free will.

In Spring 2024, I was awarded a fellowship as part of the Forum Basiliense in the beautiful city of Basel, Switzerland, to work on the topic of AI and freedom with an esteemed group of interdisciplinary researchers.

I mainly focused on a project that investigates heterogeneity in AI performance to understand whether certain psychological characteristics make individuals more or less predictable by algorithms. This topic is important as algorithm performance is typically only communicated at the level of the sample population or broad demographic groups. Yet, the performance of algorithms can affect our available choices, the information presented to us, and can ultimately nudge our decisions and change our behavior. Thus, AI has the potential to influence an individual’s agency for some more than others. Understanding heterogeneity in AI performance from an individual perspective is crucial to fully inform and protect potentially vulnerable people in society. I hope to share some outputs on this topic in the near future.

I also had the opportunity to play a (very tiny!) part in creating a comic on the topic of AI and freedom with other fellows and the talented Ivano Talamo, which will soon be published!