Arvind Narayanan is a professor of computer science at Princeton University and the incoming director of Princeton’s Center for Information Technology Policy. He also led the Princeton Web Transparency and Accountability Project, which focused on uncovering how companies collect and use our personal information. Narayanan co-created a massive open online course and textbook on bitcoin and cryptocurrency technologies, which has been used in over 150 courses worldwide. His recent work has shown how machine learning reflects cultural stereotypes, and his doctoral research showed the fundamental limits of de-identification. Narayanan is a recipient of the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers, twice recipient of the Privacy Enhancing Technologies Award, and thrice recipient of the Privacy Papers for Policy Makers Award.

Narayanan is the Knight First Amendment Institute’s 2022-2023 visiting senior research scientist. He will carry out a research project that looks at how algorithms shape the speech environment on social media platforms, aiming specifically to sharpen understanding of the ways in which the platforms’ algorithms distort speech. Narayanan will explore whether a more nuanced understanding of the computer science of algorithmic distortion could open up new regulatory avenues. As part of his tenure, he will organize a series of workshops for specific audiences, such as journalists, and he will curate a set of essays focused on AI and online speech by legal scholars, sociologists, and others with complementary expertise. In the spring of 2023, the Institute will host a major conference on this work as well.