Research Interests
My research is focussed on issues at the intersection of technology, ethics, and social epistemology. I'm interested in the ways that sociotechnical systems like AI and digital media shape collective sensemaking, and how we can understand, assess, and manage their influence.
Ethics of Cognitive Security
This emerging national security discourse focuses on risks and threats in the information environment, particularly those involving digital media systems. Offensive and defensive strategies in this space can significantly affect both individual epistemic autonomy and collective sensemaking, yet little research examines issues such as targeting, collateral effects, or the development of empirically and ethically informed rules of engagement. A central aim of my work is to motivate interdisciplinary research that can help assess and guide the exercise of state power in these contexts. I approach these questions through the lens of social epistemology, using it as an alternate framework for understanding phenomena like disinformation and influence campaigns. I take a cautious approach to much current scholarship on mis/disinformation, which can sometimes skew ahistorical and entangle political valences with structural analysis.
As a sample of what the kind of thing I'm interested in, see "TikTok as a threat to democracy?" (under review at the Journal of Cyber Policy) which examines conflicting ideals of cognitive security that frame recent discussions of banning TikTok in the US.
Applied AI Ethics
A major focus for me is the ethical and regulatory challenges of applying AI in real-world contexts, particularly in hiring and health care. This work includes hands-on analysis of AI systems, collaboration with legal and policy experts, and engagement with I/O psychology to understand how AI changes high-stakes decision-making.
Engineering Epistemic Environments
This line of research looks at the ways that digital platforms and sociotechnical systems structure our ability to know things together. My work connects social epistemology with an infrastructural perspective on media systems, highlighting how their design affects reliability, trust, and the spread of conspiracy theories.