In a world where machines and humans are increasingly intertwined, Gillian Hadfield focuses on ensuring that artificial intelligence follows the norms that make human society flourish.
“The basic thing I’m thinking about is the “AI alignment problem.” “It’s a way for AI systems to be good for us as humans and not disrupt complex social structures such as economic and political systems, and to make sure that these systems follow human norms,” says Hadfield.
Hadfield, who recently joined Johns Hopkins University as a prominent professor of AI alignment and governance at Bloomberg, is internationally recognized for his pioneering studies in technology, law and institutional economics. As a faculty member of the university’s Faculty of Government Policy and the Department of Computer Science at the Whiting School of Engineering, Hadfield leads his research and rethinks how systems evolve to meet the changing world and the demands of emerging technologies.
About BDP
Name: Gillian K. HadfieldTitle: BloombergProfessor of AI Alignment and Governance Appointment: Government and Policy School. Department of Computer Science at the Whiting School of Engineering BDP Cluster: Role before promoting and managing technological advancements: Schwarz-Raysman Institute for the University of Toronto Education and Sociological Society: BA, Queens University. JD, Stanford Law School. Stanford University’s PhD
“The world is moving very rapidly, and we are building more and more powerful AI agents, and AI is becoming more and more autonomous, making decisions and making an impact on the world,” says Hadfield.
Hadfield approaches the issue of AI alignment in a technical sense and thinks from a policy perspective by thinking about the best ways to build AI agents and the legal and regulatory structures needed to guide AI rather than valuable rather than disruptive direction. Her approach is based on a career that considers human norms and institutions that promote human well-being.
Hadfield believes that in order for AI to be beneficial to society, it is necessary to build AI agents to understand and respond to human normative systems, including both informal norms and formal legal systems. Motivated by a desire to introduce new ideas about what alignment means, Hadfield addresses computational models of human normative systems, ultimately enabling AI systems tailored to human normative systems and inferences. She warns that in large, complex economies, the rapid deployment of AI agents that do not act as humans do can cause system-wide disruption.
Hadfield’s work challenges traditional thinking about how legal rules are being done and implemented, and she became the leading voice in a call to redesign legal infrastructure that will serve a society of globalised digital transformation. Hadfield says his focus on AI alignment issues is based on topics he has been thinking about incomplete contracts, considering much of his career as an economist and legal scholar.
“You can hire someone to do the job, but you can’t fully explain what you want to do to them,” explains Hadfield. “There’s always something unexpected. When unexpected happens, hiring people to do the job and unexpected things happen, it’s entirely, but you can have confidence that you can act in a way that matches what you wanted. You’ll be there.”
“When I come to Johns Hopkins, I give me a huge potential for collaboration.”
Gillian Hadfield
Bloomberg’s Famous Professor
Hadfield wants to contribute to the kind of leadership that is important at this turning point in history, as artificial intelligence is rapidly reshaping many aspects of society.
“It’s inspired by the urgency of AI conversion that we are experiencing,” Hadfield says. “We can’t use old approaches to governance and policy and law because what’s going on is fundamentally transformative. We really need innovative thinking. I want to think about these big questions like, “What is justice?” And “How do we design society forever?” And I want to do it in a formal, structured way.
Hadfield will be coming to Johns Hopkins at the University of Toronto as part of the promotion and management of the Technological Advances BDP cluster. Hadfield says that BDP programs and cluster frameworks support the interdisciplinary nature of the required technical and theoretical innovation.
“When you come to Johns Hopkins, you have great collaboration possibilities,” Hadfield says. “Essentially, we need to learn to speak in different fields and be interested in other fields. We need lessons and expertise from the social sciences that come to withstand the way we do our technical work. The great opportunity is to have a highly motivated and influential researcher who is thinking about the same issues and collaborating around shared questions and shared commitments to good answers to those questions.”
As a prominent Bloomberg professor, Hadfield joins an interdisciplinary, interdisciplinary cohort working to address key world issues and teach the next generation. The program is supported by support from Bloomberg charities.
“Gillian Hadfield’s groundbreaking research into emerging technologies makes her a peculiar voice in the global conversations about AI and governance,” says William Howell, the first dean of the Department of Government and Policy. “We are excited to welcome her to Johns Hopkins with new technology that presents extraordinary challenges and opportunities for democratic institutions.”
Ed Schlesinger, dean of the Whiting School of Engineering, said, “Professor Hadfield brings an extraordinary interdisciplinary vision for Johns Hopkins, moving forward the frontier of AI integrity by bridging technological innovation to legal and economic insights and ensuring that artificial intelligence enhances human society.”
