My PhD research explores how to better align automated content moderation and recommender systems in online platforms with societal interests. In particular, I use ideas from computational social choice to aggregate people’s preferences about the ethical values such systems should reflect. I also use ideas from mechanism design to model to the incentives present when people interact with such systems.
I have a deep interest in epistemic security—political polarisation, divisiveness, lack of trust, information quality, and related contemporary challenges. Following my previous research in computational argumentation and applied epistemology at the Hunt Lab for Intelligence Research (University of Melbourne), I chose to pursue a PhD within the STAI CDT because the program provides me with a broad license to work on the intersection of AI and epistemic systems, with substantial formal support. Being part of a small cohort also significantly improves the PhD experience, and being based in London makes it easy to collaborate with many of the academics, companies and civil society groups whose work I am interested in.
—
Undergraduate Qualification: BSc in Statistics & Stochastic Processes, University of Melbourne
Masters Qualification: MSc(Distinct) in Statistics & Stochastic Processes, University of Melbourne
Website: See lukethorburn.com for more about me and my work.
