An internationally recognized expert in AI and algorithmic justice, Dr. Karahalios brings deep technical insight and social impact to the Lab’s mission of shaping responsible, people-centered technologies.
The MIT Media Lab is pleased to announce that Dr. Karrie G. Karahalios will join the faculty as Full Professor of Media Arts and Sciences, effective September 1, 2025.
A pioneering researcher in algorithmic awareness and auditing, and human-centered computing, Dr. Karahalios returns to the MIT—where she earned S.B. and M.E. degrees in the EECS Department and completed her S.M. and Ph.D. in Media Arts and Sciences in 2004—with a celebrated body of work that bridges technical innovation, deep social responsibility, and high-level leadership that has led to significant real-world impact.
Most recently, Dr. Karahalios served as a Professor of Computer Science at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC), with affiliate appointments in Electrical and Computer Engineering, the Coordinated Science Laboratory, School of Information Sciences, and the Unit for Criticism and Interpretive Theory. She is also the co-founder and co-director of the Center for Just Infrastructures , a cross-disciplinary initiative focused on designing inclusive, community-informed technologies.
Karrie Karahalios is a pioneer in the exploration of social media and of how people communicate in environments that are increasingly mediated by algorithms, which, as she has written, “shape the world around us.” Her work combines computing, systems, AI, anthropology, sociology, psychology, game theory, design, and infrastructure studies. The communication infrastructures she studies range from social networks, to online health management systems, to collective compendiums such as Reddit, to many more contexts. Her goal has been to uncover the function and preconditions of guiding algorithms, to inform the public about their behaviors and limitations, and to use this knowledge to create new infrastructures that are – as she says – “productive, accountable and safe.” She is widely recognized for co-developing the concept of Algorithmic Audits, a framework now standard for uncovering discrimination and bias in opaque digital systems. In 2016, she was a plaintiff in an important ACLU lawsuit challenging the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA), advocating for researchers’ rights to investigate algorithms that affect housing, employment, and access. It is widely considered that this lawsuit, largely supported by Karahalios’ work, changed the definition of ‘hacking’ in the U.S., strengthening civil liberties and civil rights enforcement.
Dr. Karahalios’s work has received numerous honors, including the NSF CAREER Award, Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellowship, SIGMOD Best Paper Award, and recognition as an ACM Distinguished Member. She currently chairs the CSCW Steering Committee, and her research has received top honors at CHI, CSCW, and SIGMOD.
The Media Lab helped shape my research voice. It’s where I first learned to ask not only what technology can do, but what it should do.
“The Media Lab helped shape my research voice. It’s where I first learned to ask not only what technology can do, but what it should do," states Karrie Karahalios. “I’m excited to collaborate with this extraordinary community to reimagine systems that serve people—especially those too often excluded from tech design.”
At the Media Lab, Prof. Karahalios will expand on her current research into the impact of human agency and community when using AI systems. This will include designing "contestable systems" where people can participate in human-AI dialogue with a system and with governing bodies (such as City Councils) in the context of city governance.. In addition, she will work towards reconciling computer science, AI, and the law. She will also investigate improvements in online governance through establishing rule alignment between governing bodies (like platform moderators) and the general public. She has already started collaboration discussions with colleagues in many different Media Lab groups and throughout MIT SCC, IDSS, EECS, Sloan, DUSP, and well beyond. Describing the next phases of her research, Karahalios writes: “My newer work aims for broader respect for persons and human dignity…Audits are a first step but there is more to do.”
Media Lab Faculty Director Tod Machover states, “Bringing Karrie Karahalios back to MIT is an extraordinary opportunity for MAS, the Media Lab, and many departments and research units throughout MIT, as well as a chance for Karrie to extend the depth, breadth and impact of her work in MIT’s uniquely interdisciplinary environment. I am certain that the boldness of her vision, her impact in shaping a more just and supportive computer-mediated communication infrastructure, her record of collaboration and collegiality, and the proven excellence of her teaching, mentorship, and leadership will contribute powerfully to the Media Lab—and to all of MIT—far into the future.”