Meeyoung Cha – CUDAN Lecture
When: 2025-10-13 16:00-18:00 (Tallinn time)
Where: A108 & online
The event is public via zoom:
https://zoom.us/j/94629959885?pwd=2NktNsXm0SzbzwwmfGbqlk5UZQoARw.1
Meeting ID: 946 2995 9885 Passcode: 007238
Speaker
Meeyoung Cha
Scientific Director, Max Planck Institute for Security and Privacy (MPI-SP)
Lecture title
AI, Society, and Computing: Leveraging Global Data While Tackling Ethical Challenges
Abstract
AI agents powered by individuals' data are reshaping everyday interactions on social platforms and marketplaces. At a planetary scale, the aggregation of multi-modal data enables transformative applications such as poverty mapping, socioeconomic predictions, and disaster assessments. However, these advancements also bring systemic risks, including biases, misinformation, and threats to democratic institutions.
This talk explores how thoughtful design in database systems and AI can mitigate these challenges, foster sustainable development, and uphold human-centered values. It further advocates for the vigilant oversight of societal-scale AI applications to prevent dual-use and other ethical concerns and instead promote the benefit for humanity. I will also discuss my journey through my research on misinformation, as well as my life as a data scientist, based on my experiences collaborating with world-class scientists at Meta, AT&T Research, and Microsoft, as well as NGOs such as the United Nations Pulse Lab and the World Customs Organization.
Bio
Meeyoung (Mia) Cha is a leading AI and data science researcher dedicated to applying technology for societal benefit. She is a Scientific Director at the Max Planck Institute for Security and Privacy (MPI-SP), an Adjunct Faculty at Ruhr University Bochum (RUB) in Germany, and a Professor at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST). Her research focuses on data science and computational social science, particularly in areas such as misinformation, poverty mapping, fraud detection, and human-machine interactions. Her work has earned widespread recognition, including Best Paper Awards, Test-of-Time Awards, the Hong Jin-Ki Creator Award, the Korean Young Information Scientist Award, and the ACM Distinguished Member status.
