Expertise

Topics:  Elections, Fairness and Accountability, Artificial Intelligence, Ethics, Machine Learning, Algorithmic Economics

Industries: Research, Education/Learning, Computer Software

Hoda Heidari is the K&L Gates Career Development Assistant Professor in Ethics and Computational Technologies at Carnegie Mellon University with joint appointments in the Machine Learning Department and the Institute for Software, Systems, and Society. She is also affiliated with the Human-Computer Interaction Institute, CyLab, and the Block Center for Technology and Society at CMU, and she co-leads the university-wide Responsible AI Initiative.

Hoda is broadly interested in the Ethical and Societal Aspects of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning. In particular, her research has addressed issues of Fairness and Accountability.

Hoda's work has been generously supported by the NSF Program on Fairness in AI in Collaboration with Amazon, PwC, CyLab, Meta, and J. P. Morgan. Hoda is a senior personnel at AI-SDM: the NSF AI Institute for Societal Decision Making.

Media Experience

CMU Researchers Win NSF-Amazon Fairness in AI Awards  — Carnegie Mellon University News
Fair AI in Public Policy — Achieving Fair Societal Outcomes in ML Applications to Education, Criminal Justice, and Health & Human Services. Led by Hoda Heidari, an assistant professor in the Machine Learning Department (MLD) and Institute for Software Research, researchers in MLD and the Heinz College of Information Systems and Public Policy will help translate fairness goals in public policy into computationally tractable measures. They will focus on factors along the development life cycle, from data collection through evaluation of tools, to identify sources of unfair outcomes in systems related to education, child welfare and justice.

CMU Launches Responsible AI Initiative To Direct Technology Toward Social Responsibility  — Carnegie Mellon University News
Housed at the Block Center for Technology and Society, the Responsible AI Initiative is spearheaded by faculty in the School of Computer Science (SCS) and the Heinz College of Information Systems and Public Policy. The initiative's leaders include Jodi Forlizzi, the Herbert A. Simon Professor in Computer Science and Human-Computer Interaction and the associate dean for diversity, equity and inclusion in SCS; Rayid Ghani, a professor in the Machine Learning Department (MLD) and the Heinz College; and Hoda Heidari, an assistant professor in MLD and the Institute for Software Research.

Responsible AI Initiative launches at Carnegie Mellon University following panel discussion including government, industry leaders  — PittsburghInno
As artificial intelligence systems become more prevalent throughout all ways of life, Carnegie Mellon University wants to be at the forefront of ensuring that such AI technologies are being deployed in an ethical manner, limiting the potential for types of negligence and prejudice that have come to exist from the adoption of some automated systems.

Introduction to AI in Municipal Government  — Technically
Meanwhile, Hoda Heidari, an assistant professor in the CMU Machine Learning Department and the Institute for Software Research, shared her experience in research around using machine learning methods to address discrimination and bias. While there have recently been more efforts to make AI system development more participatory for all stakeholders, “I would say that it is these kinds of participatory frameworks are limited in scope,” Heidari said. Often, the system architects are asking for input from communities they haven’t established communication-based relationships with yet. “So the question should be, how do we build those relationships?”