PhD Affiliate research spotlight | March

Each term members of the Data Science Institute’s PhD Affiliate Network are invited to share their research at our Research Spotlight events. Our speakers this month are Georgia Meyer and Susanne Klausing.

Heterotopias of Value(s): Person-Centric Architectures & Personal Data Economy Inversion

Georgia Meyer, Department of Management

This talk offers a framework for thinking about the emergence of alternative personal data economies by virtue of alternative information system design. Drawing on a qualitative study of six Person-Centric Architectures (PCA), this research provides insights into redesigning identity, storage, compute and control, for the use of personal data. Adopting Foucault's concept of Heterotopia (sites of simultaneous representation, contestation and inversion), the study illustrates how PCA are set to produce three interrelated types of personal data economy inversion: ownership, infrastructural and value-generation.

Responsible AI Innovation as a Response to Privacy Regulation? Evidence from the California Consumer Privacy Act

Susanne Klausing, Department of Management
Co-author: Aaron Cheng, Assistant Professor, Department of Management

Does privacy regulation impede or redirect AI innovation? We examine this important policy question through empirical analysis of the California Consumer Privacy Act. Using econometric analysis of patent data with machine-learning based analysis of S&P 500 earnings calls, we document a notable shift: rather than reducing AI development, firms pivoted toward responsible, "privacy-preserving AI" - AI technologies embedding data protection from the ground up. This talk will explore the nature of this transformation, assess how privacy-by-design represents an emerging strategic direction, and discuss the broader implications for organizations and policymakers considering the relationship between regulation and innovation in AI development.

About the DSI PhD Affiliate Network

We invite doctoral researchers, from all departments across LSE, who have an interest in data science and artificial intelligence to join the DSI PhD Affiliate Network; whether you are interested in applications for your research, are studying the social scientific implications of AI and data or are working on fundamental methodologies, please sign up.

LSE holds a wide range of events, covering many of the most controversial issues of the day, and speakers at our events may express views that cause offence. The views expressed by speakers at LSE events do not reflect the position or views of the London School of Economics and Political Science.