The Research Behind Our Mission
Artificial intelligence increasingly shapes how people interact with institutions, access information, and experience opportunity. Yet AI systems are often developed without sustained engagement from the disciplines that understand human values, social structures, and real‑world consequences. The Society Centered AI IGEC was created to bridge that gap by bringing together scholars who want to study AI as both a technical and a social system.
Drawing from the mission of the broader Society-Centered AI initiative, we organize our work around three closely linked questions:
- How can we design AI systems that consider the full spectrum of human values and morals, and decide which ones should be prioritized?
- How can we develop technical systems that are flexible and efficient enough to implement such society-centered AI at scale without creating new types of social inequality or increasing climate change?
- How can we measure the ways in which such society-centered AI systems actually impact human populations, and ensure they benefit as many people as possible?
Key areas of focus include:
- Measuring social impacts using empirical and computational methods.:
- Understanding values and how they become embedded in technical design choices.
- Engaging deeply with model architecture, optimization, and evaluation.
Why This Work Matters
AI systems are being integrated into decision making across healthcare, employment, education, governance, and public life. These systems can create opportunities but can also amplify inequities or misrepresent communities if not developed responsibly. Scholars need training that allows them to understand technical foundations, ethical frameworks, and social outcomes in a connected way.
SCAI prepares students to:
- Analyze how AI shapes society, including its impacts on behaviors, institutions, and populations.
- Identify risks and opportunities before they become entrenched in real‑world systems.
- Develop informed solutions that reflect human needs as well as technical constraints.
- Engage with diverse stakeholders, from researchers and engineers to policymakers, industry, and communities
The program supports work that moves from understanding to action, enabling scholars to contribute to responsible AI development and governance.
The Gap in Current Education Models
Most graduate programs related to AI focus on only one part of the larger picture. Computer science programs deeply explore technical methods but often overlook normative and social dimensions. Humanities and ethics programs interrogate values but may not include training in machine learning practice. Social science programs study real‑world impacts but rarely incorporate the technical foundations that shape those impacts.
The SCAI IGEC fills this void through:
- Integrated coursework across three domains: philosophy and ethics, computer science and engineering, and social science.
- Structured opportunities for interdisciplinary learning, including workshops, seminars, summer research sessions, and collaborative projects.
- A sustained scholarly community that brings students together across cohorts, disciplines, and research interests.
- Support for interdisciplinary research, including funding, mentorship, and engagement with visiting scholars.
By creating a cohesive academic pathway, SCAI prepares students to understand AI in context and to shape technologies that align with human values and societal needs.
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Discover how the pieces fit together in our unique interdisciplinary training model.
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