Trustworthy AI: Psychological Tension between Human & Machine Agency

Bio: S. Shyam Sundar (PhD, Stanford University) is James P. Jimirro Professor of MediaEffects and founding director of the Media Effects Research Laboratory at Penn StateUniversity’s College of Communications. He is also Director of the Center for SociallyResponsible Artificial Intelligence, an interdisciplinary consortium at Penn Statedevoted to the development and application of AI with an emphasis on its social andethical implications, enhancing social good and mitigating threats from its misuse. Prof.Sundar is a theorist as well as an experimentalist. His theoretical contributions includeseveral original models on the social and psychological consequences of communicationtechnology— Modality-Agency-Interactivity-Navigability (MAIN) Model, Uses andGratifications 2.0, Interactivity Effects Model, Agency Model of Customization,Motivational Technology Model, Online Source Typology and the Theory of InteractiveMedia Effects (TIME), along with its extension to Human-AI Interaction (HAII-TIME).His experiments investigate social and psychological effects of human-computerinteraction (HCI) and computer-mediated communication (CMC) with a specific focuson technological elements such as multi-modality and interactivity that are unique tomodern digital media. His research portfolio includes extensive examination of userresponses to online sources, including machine sources such as chatbots, smartspeakers, and other forms of artificial intelligence (AI). Sundar was identified as themost published author of Internet-related research in the field during the medium’s firstdecade. His research is supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF), KoreaScience and Engineering Foundation, MacArthur Foundation, Facebook, Inc., andLockheed Martin Information Systems and Global Services, among others. A frequentlycited source on technology, Sundar has testified before the U.S. Congress as an expertwitness and delivered talks at universities in several countries. He is editor of the first-ever Handbook of the Psychology of Communication Technology, published by BlackwellWiley in 2015. He has served as editor-in-chief of the Journal of Computer-MediatedCommunication and on the editorial boards of 20 other journals, includingCommunication Research, Journal of Communication, Human Communication Research, Media Psychology, Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly, Journal of Broadcasting &Electronic Media and Journal of Advertising. He is a Fellow of the InternationalCommunication Association (ICA), and has served as chair of its Communication &Technology division, 2008-2010. He is a recipient of the Frederick Williams Prizeawarded by the division for contribution to the study of communication technology. Heis also winner of the Paul J. Deutschmann award for excellence in research from theAssociation for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC).

(source:  Shyam Sundar's Webpage)