Five Named Microsoft Research AI & Society Fellows
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Five researchers from the Human-Computer Interaction Institute – Hong Shen, Wesley Hanwen Deng, Motahhare Eslami, Ken Holstein, and Jason Hong – have been named 2024 Microsoft Research AI & Society Fellows.
The new Microsoft Research AI & Society Fellows program seeks to unite leading scholars and experts in various fields to support research challenges at the intersection of artificial intelligence (AI) and society. The program attracted more than 3000 applicants from around the world. Shen, Deng, Eslami, Holstein, and Hong are five of 22 current fellowship recipients worldwide.
Hong Shen, assistant research professor, will be working on the research challenge “Supporting the Responsible AI Red-Teaming Human Infrastructure.” In this project, Hong will collaborate with researchers from Microsoft Research to study the crucial human labor involved in red teaming activities for generative AI. The goal is to identify and develop better support mechanisms for the human contributors in these efforts. According to the research challenge website, “This proposal focuses on understanding the psychological impact of red teaming, developing practical recommendations for responsible AI practices, and exploring how generative AI technologies can optimize data enrichment work. The ultimate goal is to ensure that the humans enabling responsible AI are protected from undue harm.”
Another team of researchers from the HCII including Wesley Hanwen Deng, HCI PhD student; Ken Holstein, assistant professor; Motahhare Eslami, assistant professor; and Jason Hong, professor, will be collaborating on the research challenge “Regulating AI in Light of the Challenges of Doing Responsible AI in Practice.” For the past few years, the group has conducted a series of research on understanding and supporting responsible AI practices in industry settings. In this challenge, the team will collaborate with researchers from Microsoft Research and legal scholars from UCLA School of Law to explore how AI legislation and regulation can be more responsive to the known and yet-to-be-discovered challenges of practicing responsible AI. According to the research challenge website, the end goal for this collaboration is to “bring these insights into the policymaking process via direct engagement with government and civil society stakeholders.’’
The AI & Society Fellows will partner with Microsoft Research employees on interdisciplinary collaborations and will receive a stipend during the program.
Related People
Hong Shen, Wesley Hanwen Deng, Motahhare Eslami, Ken Holstein, Jason Hong
Research Areas
Artificial Intelligence (AI)