PhD Thesis
Title: What’s Risk Got to Do With It? Public Attitudes to AI Regulation in the EU and the US
PhD Supervisor & Co-Supervisor: James Hollway
Date: 2024
Kulani Abendroth-Dias is using a mixed methods approach to investigate the factors that influence support for enacting and revisiting AI regulation. She specialises in randomised controlled survey experiments and interview methods. In this dissertation project, she presents evidence from 1375 respondents including policymakers, their advisors, tech regulators, lobbyists, academics, and the general public across the EU and the US to test how different types of risk influences attitudes towards AI regulation, including 1) disinformation 2) job-loss and 3) online child safety. Findings from this research have applications on factors that influence support for regulatory approaches to emerging technologies.
Profile
Kulani Abendroth-Dias is a behavioural scientist specialising in AI and the impact of emerging digital technologies on society. She is currently a Scientific Officer with the European Commission’s Directorate on Digital Transformation Unit on Digital Economy. She is also a UNU AI Network Expert. Her talk on “Why good people do bad things - and what we can do about it” is on TED. She has an MSc. in Economics & Security from the Institute of European Studies in Brussels, Belgium and an M.A. in Social Psychology (Behavioural Science) from Princeton University.
Publications and works
- Abendroth-Dias, Kulani. “What’s Risk Got To Do With It? Public Attitudes Towards AI Regulation In The European Union and United States.” In Oxford Intersections: AI in Society. Ed. Philipp Hacker. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press, forthcoming.
- Abendroth-Dias, Kulani. “Who should regulate AI? An empirical study of EU and US public views on AI regulation.” In Digital Transformation(s): Social and Ethical Consequences of Rapid Technological Change. Ed. Cathrine Edelhard Tømte, Jarle Trondal & Alexander Ruser. Edward Elgar Publishing, forthcoming.
- Abendroth-Dias, K. (2020). What Does Resilience-Building to Emerging and Disruptive Technologies Actually Look Like? A Study Addressing the Public Policy Challenges and Socio-Political Implications of the Development of Artificial Intelligence for NATO Security and Defense in Continental Europe. NATO STO.
- Harnessing the power of AI and emerging technologies, Ministerial paper (2022), Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD)
- Global Partnership on AI secretariat report on policy analysis in AI ecosystem (2022), Global Partnership on AI (GPAI)
- Schreiber & Abendroth Dias (2020) Unpacking the black box of fragility: Using behavioural insights for international co operation, European Defense Journal. Commissioned by the Austrian Delegate to the International Network on Conflict and Fragility (INCAF)
- Abendroth Dias (2020) What does resilience building to emerging and disruptive technologies actually look like? A study addressing the public policy challenges and socio political implications of the development of Artificial Intelligence, European Cybersecurity Journal
- Abendroth Dias & Kiefer (2020) AI is already innovating the Alliance. It’s time for NATO and the EU to catch up. Women in International Security (WIIS) Policy Briefs
- Abendroth Dias (2020) How can governments build trust in AI driven public services? St. Gallen University Topic Briefs
- Abendroth Dias (2020) Can behavioural science help us prepare for the next pandemic? Apolitical
- Abendroth Dias (2020) The problem and appeal of behavioral science in international development, Apolitical
Affiliations
Scientific Officer, European Commission; UNU AI Network Expert
ACADEMIC EXPERIENCES
- Oxfor Internet Institute Summer Doctoral Programme Scholar; Senior Non-Resident Fellow, Centre for European Policy Analysis (CEPA); Yale University,
- Automaticity in Cognition, Motivation, and Evaluation - Lab (Supervisor: Professor John Bargh) Research Assistant;
- Princeton University - Research Lead: the social psychology of shared
- memory formation; Princeton University - Co-Investigator: Meta-analysis specializing in quantitative and qualitative research approaches; predoctoral fellow - Bremen International Graduate School of Social Sciences (BIGSSS)
OTHER WORK EXPERIENCES
- Project Manager, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)
- Strategic Analyst, OECD
- Graduate Professional, United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research, Behavioural Scientist, United Nations Development Programme & United Nations Peacebuilding Fund
- Research and Governance Manager, McCourt Institute (Project Liberty)
Research Interests
- Artificial Intelligence
- Public Sector Innovation
- Innovations in Democracy
- Security & Intelligence
- Digital Transformation
- Disinformation
- Behavioural Science/Behavioural Economics
- Social Psychology
- Political Science
- Emerging & Disruptive Technologies
- Regulatory approaches to emerging technologies
FELLOWSHIPS, GRANTS AND AWARDS
- Washington D.C. Alumni Chapter Scholarship: Geneva Graduate Institute
- NATO Engages Consortium & Women in International Security sponsorship, London, UK
- Invited speaker, Dutch United Nations Student Association: Harnessing the power of AI for development
- Chatham House Second Century Conference Sponsored Invitee
- Invited speaker, Convention of National Associations of Electrical Engineers of Europe, Young Engineers Seminar, European Commission
- Invited speaker, Free University Brussels: How the UN can harness the power of AI for development
- Invited speaker, Annual European Artificial Intelligence Conference, EU AI Conference
- Politics Research in Experimental Social Science Grant
- Janet L. Holmgren ’74 Graduate Fellowship Princeton University