Anjalie Field, an assistant professor of computer science and a member of the Center for Language and Speech Processing, has received an AI2050 Early Career Fellowship from Schmidt Sciences. Recognized as a scholar working at the forefront of artificial intelligence, Field will receive funding from the philanthropic organization over a period two years to advance research that realizes AI’s potential to benefit humanity.
Schmidt Sciences’ AI2050 program asks researchers to imagine the year 2050 as an example of a future in which AI has been hugely beneficial, and to pursue projects that help today’s society realize this outcome. A member of the program’s third cohort, Field joins a community of 71 researchers from 15 different academic disciplines and 37 institutions across seven countries.
The AI2050 Early Career Fellowship specifically encourages postdoctoral and pre-tenure researchers from around the world to pursue ambitious, multidisciplinary, and typically difficult-to-fund work on complex AI challenges. Early Career Fellows each receive an award to support a two-year project that advances their research and are connected with stakeholders to help them advance their research and amplify its results.
Field’s research focuses on the ethics and social science aspects of natural language processing, such as developing language processing models to address societal issues like discrimination and propaganda and critically assessing AI pipelines; her current work is focused on identifying social biases in various domains, including Wikipedia, social media, and social workers’ notes.
With this fellowship, Field will be building new technology to improve privacy in AI, including developing methods to evaluate privacy and preserve privacy and to safely incorporate sensitive information in appropriate settings. Ultimately, this work will facilitate safer development and deployment of AI and reduce potential societal harms.
“I’m honored to be joining this incredible community of fellows,” says Field, “and I’m excited about the research my lab will be able to pursue through this opportunity.”