Artificial Intelligence (AI) is expected to play a crucial role in the future of social media. AI can contribute to new ways of informing and engaging with citizens but, in order to achieve this goal, it must address the pressing problem presented by the spread of disinformation, polarisation and fake news.
The postdoctoral researcher will work closely with staff researchers in the IAS group and across the AIMD Lab consortium, focusing on AI/multi-agent models for the dynamics and prevention of disinformation and polarisation. This involves studying complex social networks, formed of both humans and automated agents, and modeling how agents in the network can be influenced by the spread of fake news, and in turn, influence others. In more detail, this can lead to complex systems dynamics, such as “cascade effects” in which a particular piece of disinformation spreads rapidly through a social network. This also involves studying how different parameters influence such dynamics, and study how game theoretic methods can be designed to prevent spread of disinformation in social networks.
The Postdoctoral researcher is appointed at the national research institute for mathematics and computer science (CWI) and will be embedded at the AI, Media & Demodracy Lab.
