Project Description

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RESEARCH AREAS:

  • Philosophy of science

  • Ethics of AI

  • Multi-agent systems

CONTACT:

ALICE HUANG

Assistant Professor
Department of Computer Science and the Department of Philosophy, Western University.

Duncanson Chair
Ethics and Technology, Western University

My work focuses on normative issues that arise in the context of machine learning and new technology. I am also interested in using computational models to study how social factors affect scientists’ ability and motivation to do good science and discovery truths.

I work primarily in the ethics of machine learning and social formal epistemology. My projects fall into two broad categories. The first kind of project connects formal results in artificial intelligence research to our ethical reasoning. I think about how we should interpret different formal results in machine learning in relation to the complex real world. The second kind of project uses multi-agent models to investigate pressing issues in our social discourse today, such as questions about the misinformation, polarization and mistrust in science.

Publications

1. Huang, A. C. W. Landscapes and bandits: A unified model of functional and demographic
diversity. Philosophy of Science (2024)

2. Huang, A. C. W. Track records: A cautionary tale. The British Journal for the Philosophy
of Science (2024)

3. Huang, A. C. W. A normative comparison of threshold views through computer simulations.
Synthese 200, 4 (2022), 1–23

Conferences

Invited

1. The Efficiency of Hypes
2025 CMU Formal Model in Metascience workshop (August 2-3) in Pittsburgh, PA, USA.

2. An Encroachment Account of Gaslighting
2025 UMass Amherst MAP colloquium (March 14) in Amherst, MA, USA.

3. Compete to Cooperate
2025 Formal and Experimental Philosophy conference (FAX4) (April 24-25) in Buffalo, NY, USA.
2025 Self-Assembling Games Workshop (January 24-25) in Irvine, CA, USA.

4. Landscapes and Bandits: A Unified Model of Functional and Demographic Diversity
2024 Computational Social Philosophy Seminars (September 23) online.

5. Taking Risks on a Budget
2022 Self, Belief, and AI Workshop (July 19) in Toronto, ON, Canada.

Refereed

1. Compete to Cooperate
2024 Philosophy of Science Association Biannual Meeting (November 14-17). New Orleans, USA.

2. You Can Have Fairness and Accuracy Too
2025 European Philosophy of Science Association meeting (August 27-30). Groningen, Netherlands.
2024 The Taiwan Association for Logic, Methodology and Philosophy of Science and Technology Annual Conference (June 8-9). Taipei, Taiwan.

3. Track Records: A Cautionary Tale
2023 Canadian Philosophical Association Meeting (May 29-June 1). Toronto, Canada.
2023 Taiwan Philosophical Logic Colloquium (December 9-11). Taipei, Taiwan.

4. Homophily and the Meta-expertise of Experts
2022 Schwartz Reisman Institute Graduate Workshop (June 20-22). Online.

5. Deflationism Does Not Entail That Metaphysical Dependence is Irreflexive
2023 The Aristotelian Society Joint Session (July 7-9). London, UK.
2022 Canadian Philosophical Association Meeting (May 17-20). Online due to COVID-19.

6. Same But Different: Irreflexivity and Identity Dependence
2022 American Philosophical Association Central Division Meeting (February 23-26) in Chicago.
2021 Durham Mind, Language, and Metaphysics Graduate conference (May 13-15). Online due to COVID-19.

7. Normative Sensitivism
2021 Edinburgh Graduate Epistemology Conference (August 9-10). Online due to COVID-19.
2021 Graduate Philosophy Conference at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (Apr 30 – May 1). Online due to COVID-19.

8. Gerrymandering ‘Structure’
2019 Mind, Language and Action Group Graduate Conference III (April 10-12) in Porto, Portugal.

Comments

1. Comments on The Epistemic Value of Imagination by Jill Cumby
2023 Canadian Philosophical Association meeting (May 29-June 1) in Toronto, Canada.

2. Comments on Plenitude and Modal Paradox by Adam Murray
2023 at the University of Toronto.

3. Comments on Resolute and Correlated Bayesians by Babic et al.
2022 Formal Epistemology Workshop (May 27-29) in Irvine, USA.

Posters

1. A Normative Comparison of Threshold Views Through Computer Simulations
2022 Carleton Cognitive Science Graduate Conference (April 29-30) in Ottawa, Canada.

2. What We Talk About When We Talk About ‘Structure’
2019 Consciousness Research Network (Jan 23-25) in Okazaki, Japan.

  • John Leyerle-CIFAR Prize for Interdisciplinary Research ($1,000, 2025)
  • David Savan Dissertation Prize ($1,000, 2024)
  • Schwartz Reisman Institute for Technology and Society Graduate Fellow ($7,500, 2023-24)
  • Pronovost Morgan Family Foundation Fellowship in Ethical AI ($5,000/year, 2022- 24)
  • Ontario Graduate Scholarship (International) ($15,000, 2023-24)
  • Graduate Student Service Award ($1,000, 2023)
  • Herman Fellowship for international students ($5,000, 2022-23)
  • New York University honors scholar award (2019)
  • New York University Abu Dhabi Bursary (∼$78,000/year, 2015-19)

Faculty Research Domains

Rotman Institute faculty members are listed below by shared research areas. Visit individual member profiles to learn more.