The Rajen Kilachand Center for Integrated Life Sciences and Engineering.
Communication is the fabric of society. At COM, our researchers are investigating the big questions. How are narratives constructed and distributed? What information is trustworthy and why? How is AI changing how we relate to information and other people? And how are industrial shifts shaping the future of media?
Wired for Division: How Media Infrastructure Shapes Polarization
This panel traces how corporate consolidation, the legal frameworks that built the internet, and AI's disruption of Hollywood, have contributed to polarization, splintering what different demographics see, trust, and believe.
Presenters: Ayse Lokmanoglu , Deborah Jaramillo, Morgan Weiland
The Machine in Between: AI as Relational Intermediary
This panel examines how generative AI is reshaping human connection and institutional relationships. Panelists explore chatbots that simulate deceased loved ones, chatbots used to assist the elderly in building social connections, and generative AI used to help governments listen to constituents.
Presenters: James Katz, Eric Gordon, Yi Grace Ji
What We Believe and Why: Navigating Information in the Era of Content Confusion
This panel examines misinformation and trust dynamics online. From climate misinformation to AI slop and the data-center resistance movement, the panelists ask how people come to trust or distrust the information they consume.
Presenters: Joan Donovan, Chris Wells, Michelle Amazeen