5 MIT college members and two extra alumni had been not too long ago named to the 2026 cohort of AI2050 Fellows. The dignity is introduced yearly by Schmidt Sciences, Eric and Wendy Schmidt’s philanthropic initiative that goals to speed up scientific innovation.
Conceived and co-chaired by Eric Schmidt and James Manyika, AI2050 is a philanthropic initiative geared toward serving to to resolve laborious issues in synthetic intelligence. Inside their analysis, every fellow will cope with the central motivating query of AI2050: “It’s 2050. AI has turned out to be vastly useful to society. What occurred? What are an important issues we solved and the alternatives and potentialities we realized to make sure this end result?”
AI2050 Senior Fellow
Sendhil Mullainathan is the Peter de Florez Professor at MIT with twin appointments within the departments of Economics and Electrical Engineering and Pc Science who can also be a principal investigator on the MIT Laboratory for Info and Determination Programs. His present analysis is on the intersection of algorithms and folks, with a central give attention to launching The Bike Store@MIT, a brand new analysis heart that works towards extra human-centered AI by way of scalable bicycles for the thoughts, and progressive new gears for machine studying algorithms. Mullainathan is the co-founder of ideas42, a nonprofit to use behavioral science; MIT’s Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Motion Lab, which promotes the usage of randomized management trials in growth; and Dandelion Well being, which mixes proprietary AI instruments with real-world affected person knowledge. He is the co-author of “Shortage: Why Having Too Little Means So A lot.”
Amongst different awards, he’s a recipient of the MacArthur “Genius Grant”; has been designated a “Younger World Chief” by the World Financial Discussion board; was labeled a “High 100 Thinker” by International Coverage Journal; and was named to the “Sensible Record: 50 individuals who will change the world” by Wired Journal (U.Ok.). He serves on the board of the MacArthur Basis, is affiliated with the NBER and BREAD, and is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. His AI2050 mission focuses on the interpretation of patterns detectable by AI into testable theories.
AI2050 Early Profession Fellows
Alex Damian is an assistant professor within the Division of Arithmetic, holding an MIT Schwarzman School of Computing shared place with the Division of Electrical Engineering and Pc Science, who can also be a principal investigator on the MIT Laboratory for Info and Determination Programs. His analysis focuses on the mathematical foundations of deep studying, with an emphasis on optimization dynamics and illustration studying. He was beforehand a analysis fellow on the Kempner Institute at Harvard College. He obtained his PhD in utilized and computational arithmetic from Princeton College and his BS in arithmetic from Duke College. His AI2050 mission focuses on efficient AI mannequin coaching.
Bailey Flanigan is a Theodore T. Miller (1922) Profession Growth Assistant Professor at MIT, holding an MIT Schwarzman School of Computing shared place with the departments of Electrical Engineering and Pc Science and Political Science, and can also be a principal investigator on the MIT Laboratory for Info and Determination Programs. She obtained her PhD in pc science from Carnegie Mellon College in 2024. In 2024-25, she was a Harvard Knowledge Science Initiative Fellow, hosted on the Harvard Ash Heart for Democratic Innovation. Her analysis combines instruments from throughout disciplines (together with social alternative concept, sport concept, algorithms, statistics, and survey strategies) to advance political methodology and strengthen public participation in democracy. She is particularly concerned with sampling algorithms, opinion measurement/desire elicitation, and the design of democratic improvements like deliberative minipublics and participatory budgeting. Her AI2050 mission focuses on gathering structured public enter that lawmakers can use when making advanced choices.
Yunha Hwang is the Samuel A. Goldblitch Profession Growth Assistant Professor at MIT, holding an MIT Schwarzman School of Computing shared place with the departments of Electrical Engineering and Pc Science and Biology. She can also be a principal investigator on the MIT Laboratory for Info and Determination Programs. Hwang serves because the co-founder and chief scientist at Tatta Bio, a scientific nonprofit devoted to advancing genomic AI for organic discovery. She obtained her PhD in biology from Harvard College and BS in pc science from Stanford College. Her analysis pursuits span machine studying for microbial evolution, biomanufacturing, and open science. Her AI 2050 mission focuses on figuring out organic enzyme capabilities.
Manish Raghavan is the Drew Houston (2005) Profession Growth Professor on the MIT Sloan College of Administration, holding an MIT Schwarzman School of Computing shared place with the Division of Electrical Engineering and Pc Science. He’s additionally a principal investigator on the MIT Laboratory for Info and Determination Programs. Earlier than that, he was a postdoc on the Harvard Heart for Analysis on Computation and Society. Raghavan obtained his bachelor’s diploma in electrical engineering and pc science from the College of California at Berkeley, and PhD from Cornell College. His analysis pursuits lie within the software of computational strategies to domains of social concern, together with algorithmic equity and behavioral economics, with a specific give attention to the usage of algorithmic instruments within the hiring pipeline. His AI2050 mission focuses on mitigating unfavorable results, and strengthening constructive points, of widespread AI reliance.
MIT alumni Irene Chen PhD ’22 and Allison Z. Koenecke ’14 in addition to former postdoc Juan Carlos Perdomo had been additionally named AI2050 Early Profession Fellows.
