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Aviv Ovadya (aviv.me) works at the intersection of AI, platforms, democracy, and deliberation. He is a Research Fellow at newDemocracy; an affiliate at Harvard's Berkman Klein Center and GovAI; and consults for civil society organizations, technology companies, and funders.

Aviv's current focus is on ensuring that the governance of AI can keep up with the rate of AI advances, building on lessons from applied deliberative democracy to enable effective transnational governance and alignment. This involves framing (e.g., "Platform Democracy"), theory (e.g., "Generative CI"), and applied work: accelerating efforts to build out and pilot the organizational and technical infrastructure for deliberative governance.

His related work explores how we can make our information ecosystem and decision-making systems robust in the face of ubiquitous platform ranking systems and generative AI. This has involved building systems for estimating information quality across social platforms, advocating for "violet teaming" of powerful AI models, and pushing for the adoption of "bridging-based ranking." 

Aviv has consulted for or advised organizations including the Partnership on AI, Meedan, and Cohere. His work has been covered by the BBC, NPR, the Economist, and The New York Times and his writing has been published by Wired, Bloomberg, HBR, and The Washington Post.


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The Washington Post

AI is destabilizing ‘the concept of truth itself’ in 2024 election

Aviv Ovadya speaks to The Washington Post about AI and the 2024 elections across the country. 

Jan 22, 2024
Journal of Democracy

Reimagining Democracy for AI

BKC Affiliate Aviv Ovadya argues that reinventing our democratic infrastructure is not just possible, it is necessary.

Oct 12, 2023
New York Times

Researchers Poke Holes in Safety Controls of ChatGPT and Other Chatbots

BKC Affiliate Aviv Ovadya comments on a new report exposing holes in the guardrails of AI chatbots.

Jul 27, 2023
WIRED

Meta Ran a Giant Experiment in Governance. Now It’s Turning to AI

BKC Affiliate Aviv Ovadya writes about Meta's approach to governance of generative AI.

Jul 18, 2023
The New York Times

What’s the Future for A.I.?

BKC Affiliate Aviv Ovadya comments on the need for cross-cutting, international regulation of AI.

Mar 31, 2023
Marketplace

GPT-4 needs more robust testing, “red team” member says

BKC Affiliate Aviv Ovadya speaks about the need for more robust testing for GPT-4. 

Mar 29, 2023
TechCrunch

Can ‘we the people’ keep AI in check?

"Emad [CEO] at Stability [AI, the open-source AI company,] says he’s ‘democratizing AI.’ Well, wouldn’t it be nice to actually be using democratic processes to figure out…

Feb 17, 2023
Washington Post

Social media can be polarizing. A new type of algorithm aims to change that.

BKC Affiliate Aviv Ovadya discusses social media algorithms that burst, otherwise known as bridging systems.

Jan 11, 2023
Hard Fork

Can ChatGPT Make This Podcast?

On the Hard Fork podcast, Aviv Ovadya speaks about ChatGPT, its potential, and related concerns.

Aviv Ovadya, BKC Affiliate, speaks about ChatGPT, its potential, and related concerns. It’s writing podcast scripts, finishing students’ homework and correcting mistakes in…

Dec 9, 2022