Tools of Thought

Building Algorithms that Enhance Human Capacity

Advancing a new science of computing to address social challenges, our research bridges human behavior and technology for impactful, real-world solutions.

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Our Vision

Like others

We believe the future of computing is in collaboration. Algorithms must enhance rather than replicate human capacity

Where we differ

Realizing this vision requires more fundamental advances. Clever tweaks to existing ML approaches like placing humans in the loop or improving alignment are all useful, but insufficient. 
Tools of Thought

Our Approach

Pushing the scientific frontier

To build entirely new algorithms we will need an entirely new subfield of science. We will expand the foundations of computer science to incorporate formal and computational models of behavior.

Building and impact

Tool building must be informed by tool use. Nearly all major breakthroughs in computing have come from ambitious feats of building. We pick ambitious problems from the social world, where well-built algorithms could have a large positive impact.

Training bilingual people

This work requires a new type of person, one who deeply understands both the science of computing and the science of people. We will train such ‘bilingual’ people.

Areas of focus

Our current projects span education, healthcare, economic mobility, improving government efficacy, and global poverty.
Our Team

A collaborative team of faculty and PhD students from MIT and other institutions

It is led by Sendhil Mullainathan, the Peter de Florez Professor in the departments of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science and Economics, and a principal investigator in the Laboratory for Information and Decision Systems and Frida Polli, former neuroscientist and AI CEO, and inaugural Visiting Innovation Scholar at Schwarzmann College of Computing.
Sendhil Mullainathan
Peter de Florez Professor, Professor of EECS; Professor of Economics, Dual Appointment [AI+D]
Reach out

We are just launching. If this intrigues you and want to learn more, reach out.

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