Professor Vincent Conitzer elected to Visiting Fellowship

We are delighted to announce the election of Professor Vincent Conitzer as Visiting Fellow at Pembroke College.

Prof Conitzer, a distinguished computer scientist and artificial intelligence (AI) researcher, is presently Head of Technical AI Engagement and Professor of Computer Science and Philosophy at the Institute for Ethics in AI, which is part of the University of Oxford. At the same time, he is the Kimberly J. Jenkins Distinguished University Professor of New Technologies, a Professor of Computer Science, Professor of Economics and Professor of Philosophy at Duke University. Prof Conitzer also serves as chair in many associations and conferences and has been granted numerous awards and fellowships throughout his academic career. He was one of the founding Editors-in-Chief of the ACM Transactions on Economics and Computation (TEAC) journal.

Following a degree in Applied Mathematics from Harvard University, Prof Conitzer completed a Masters and a PhD in Computer Science at Carnegie Mellon University. While his general research focuses on AI and game theory, he has recently started studying the topic of AI and ethics, exploring how we should determine the objectives that AI systems pursue. For instance, in the 2021 AAAI/ACM Conference on AI, Ethics, and Society, Prof Conitzer et al. produced a research paper that explored the ‘Ethical Implementation of Artificial Intelligence to Select Embryos in In Vitro Fertilization.’ The paper advocated the need to ensure scientifically sound and ethically responsible deployment of AI to IVF. Prof Conitzer will soon trade his Duke appointment for one back at Carnegie Mellon University, where he will start a lab dedicated to creating the foundations of game theory appropriate for advanced, autonomous AI agents.

At Pembroke Professor Conitzer joins a Fellowship and academic community which has many other members who are engaged in research which intersects with his own.  Senior academics here are leading research in applied computer science and data analysis, and the legal, ethical and economic implications of the deployment of AI. We also have academics who work on the use of AI in the changing nature of warfare as well as its impact on the economy and society. We are delighted to welcome Professor Conitzer to our community and look forward to the conversations, events, research questions and student interactions which he will be a part of. 

Prof Conitzer commented: “I am very excited to be joining Pembroke. I stayed at the College for a viva several years ago, and fell in love with it even though there were few people there then -- it was late August.  Yet I am already seeing that Pembroke's people are far more impressive still than its buildings, and cannot wait to become part of its academic community.”