People
Faculty
Ronald E. Robertson
Ronald is a research scientist at the Stanford Cyber Policy Center who designs experiments and software to explore human-algorithm interactions in digital spaces, especially as they relate to influence and information seeking. His research on these topics has been published in general interest journals, including Nature, Science Advances, and PNAS, and computer science conferences, such as the Proceedings of the ACM: Human-Computer Interaction, the Proceedings of the Web Conference (WWW), and Proceedings of the International AAAI Conference on Weblogs and Social Media (ICWSM).
Matt DeVerna
Matt DeVerna is a computational social scientist who examines how artificial intelligence is transforming information access and online communication, with a particular focus on social media and search. His research combines large-scale data analysis, experimental methods, and direct interrogation of AI systems to explore the societal consequences of AI-mediated interactions and understand their role in contemporary information ecosystems. He holds a Ph.D. in Informatics from Indiana University and an M.A. in Psychology from New York University.
Sunny Xun Liu
Dr. Sunny Xun Liu is the Director of Research at the Stanford Social Media Lab. Dr. Liu's research focuses on the social and psychological effects of social media and AI, social media and well-being, and how the design of social robots impact psychological perceptions.
Jeff Hancock
Jeff Hancock is the founding director of the Stanford Social Media Lab and is Harry and Norman Chandler Professor of Communication at Stanford University. Professor Hancock and his group work on understanding psychological and interpersonal processes in social media. The team specializes in using computational linguistics and experiments to understand how the words we use can reveal psychological and social dynamics, such as deception and trust, emotional dynamics, intimacy and relationships, and social support. Recently Professor Hancock has begun work on understanding the mental models people have about algorithms in social media, as well as working on the ethical issues associated with computational social science.Speakers
Alex "Sandy" Pentland
Alex "Sandy" Pentland is HAI Center Fellow and faculty lead for digital society at Stanford HAI and Digital Economy Lab, He is Toshiba Professor at MIT, member of US National Academies, Advisor to Abu Dhabi Investment Authority Lab, and formerly advisory board member at UN Secretary General's office, Google, ATT, Telefonica, and elsewhere. Spin-off companies and open source systems from his lab manage authentication of most digital transactions in the world, media for roughly 1B people in far east, and health resources for roughly 0.5B people in the indopacific. His current focus is on problems and opportunities in using AI to improve our social institutions.
Riana Pfefferkorn
Riana Pfefferkorn is a policy fellow at Stanford HAI. A lawyer by training, Riana researches the law and policy implications of emerging technologies including AI. Her research spans topics in privacy and civil liberties, encryption policy, digital surveillance, cybersecurity, and online trust and safety. Her past work includes analyzing the legal implications and real-world impact of AI-generated child abuse material, predicting the impact of "deepfakes" on evidentiary proceedings in court, studying the system for reporting child exploitation online, and surveying online platforms' use of "content-oblivious" trust and safety techniques, among other topics. Along with her HAI colleague Dr. Jennifer King, Riana is a 2026-2027 Non-Resident Fellow at the Center for Democracy and Technology.
José Ramón Enríquez
José Ramón Enríquez is a Postdoctoral Fellow at Stanford GSB and the Institute for Human-Centered AI. He studies how digital technologies can enhance governance and promote prosperity in developing contexts. His recent work centers on AI for civic participation and collective decision-making, misinformation mitigation, and leveraging large language models for economic measurement in data-scarce environments. José Ramón holds a Ph.D. in Political Economy and Government (PEG) from Harvard.
