Princeton Center for Information Technology Policy

March 24-28, 2025 is the sixth #GradFUTURES Forum, Princeton University Graduate School's annual, week-long professional development conference. With over 20 events, #GradFUTURES Forum is open to the broader graduate community at Princeton University and beyond. We hope you can join us in-person or virtually. I'll highlight a few GradFUTURES Forum events in the coming days. On Tuesday, March 25 (4 pm), Arvind Narayanan (Professor Princeton Computer Science, Princeton Engineering, Director Princeton Center for Information Technology Policy and co-author AI Snake Oil- Princeton University Press) and Rodney Priestley (Dean of Princeton's Graduate School and Professor, Princeton CBE) will discuss whether AI helps or harms creativity and innovation in research. As AI tools are increasingly used in research, ?? to what extent do they augment human creativity and in what ways can it be harmful? ?? how does it impact (or call for reimagining) the uniquely human aspects of academic discovery and insight ?? how should doctoral training adapt to train scientists and scholars in process of research, while maintaining creative and innovative aspects? Join us to collectively deliberate on the topic on most academic minds. This event is co-sponsored by the G.S. Beckwith Gilbert ’63 Lecture Series. Details and RSVP in comments #AI #research #creativity #innovation #phd #graduateschool Princeton Innovation

Manoel Horta Ribeiro joined the computer science faculty in January. He is an associated faculty member at the Princeton Center for Information Technology Policy. His research focuses on how people interact with computing tools, everything from social media to crowdsourcing platforms to AI chatbots.?He not only studies how people use these platforms, he also works on ways to build better systems. Part of the goal of his research program is to gather data that can help contribute to better public policy and political discourse about online platforms. When it comes to other key policy areas like economics and education, huge amounts of data help the public and policymakers make difficult choices. For online platforms, he said, finding data is much more challenging because the information is often proprietary.? "It’s not like we have a census bureau that will hand you the data," he said. "Often, my research involves scraping data or finding ways to get answers to things that are not super straightforward. For this kind of work, some sort of technical expertise goes a long way." https://bit.ly/3XKOw75

Increasingly, machine learning algorithms are being used to assist in making decisions that have the potential to critically impact real people’s lives. Take, for example, the use of algorithms to aid in deciding who is approved and who is not for a loan to purchase a house. In some cases, the use of such algorithms may be more efficient or more accurate. But the use of algorithms in these types of real-world situations also raise important questions about fairness. As AI is given the power to affect people in their day-to-day lives, the scientists who build the algorithms have started asking themselves things like: Do algorithm decisions replicate bias in the data which comes from an imperfect society? Is the data collection method itself flawed, putting the burden of its mistakes on people who have been historically disadvantaged? In a seminar on Feb. 18 held by the Center for Statistics and Machine Learning and the Princeton Center for Information Technology Policy, Assistant Professor of Princeton Computer Science Lydia Liu discussed how computer scientists might view fairness in AI through the lens of?broader societal goals, rather than a technical or algorithmic issue. “[My research calls for] expanding the scope of fairness, instead of focusing just on what's fair within an algorithm and asking, ‘how do I redistribute those errors?’” said Liu. “It's about expanding our scope to include the human and institutional aspects and rethinking problem formulation.” Read more: https://lnkd.in/eDs88nfy

A special shout out to the Princeton Center for Information Technology Policy for their support of Envision's 2025 conference! CITP has helped facilitate Envision and inspired the structure of the program of the 2025 conference. Learn more and register at princetonenvision.com.

Princeton seniors Avi Attar and Jennifer Nwokeji are the recipients of the 2025 Moses Taylor Pyne Honor Prize, the highest general distinction conferred on an undergraduate: https://bit.ly/4i5klzd Attar, from Newton, Massachusetts, is majoring in the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs and minoring in computer science. “Since coming to Princeton, I’ve had a wealth of opportunities, from taking classes with world-class professors and inspiring classmates to extracurricular exploration and travel,” he said. “This prize is a reminder of those opportunities and the professors, classmates and other members of the Princeton community who made them possible.” Nwokeji, from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, is majoring in molecular biology and minoring in bioengineering and African studies. She hopes to enter an M.D./Ph.D. program after graduation. Upon learning she had received the Pyne Prize, Nwokeji said she “almost cried” and immediately thought of her Nigerian immigrant parents. Being honored with the Pyne Prize, Nwokeji added, “felt like I was sort of being awarded and recognized just for being me.”