Weiyan Shi

Weiyan Shi is an Assistant Professor at Northeastern University. Her research interests include AI-driven persuasion and AI safety. She has been recognized as an MIT Technology Review 35 Innovator under 35, a Rising Star in Machine Learning, and a Rising Star in EECS. Her work on persuasive dialogues received a Best Social Impact Paper, an Outstanding Paper, and a Best Paper Nomination at ACL 2019 and ACL 2024. She was also a core team member behind the Science publication on Cicero, the first negotiation AI agent to achieve human-level performance in the game of Diplomacy. This work has been featured in The New York Times, The Washington Post, MIT Technology Review, Forbes, and other major media outlets.  

AI2050 Project

If unchecked, AI’s increasing persuasive ability could lead to harmful outcomes, especially with emerging AI agents that can plan and use tools. To safeguard against this significant risk, Shi’s project addresses three critical areas: (1) investigate how AI agents might be used to persuade in potentially harmful ways, to inform better defense mechanisms; (2) develop methods to continuously monitor their evolving persuasive capabilities as an early-warning system; (3) create tools to empower users to identify and protect themselves from unwanted AI influence. Ultimately, this research aims to ensure AI develops as a trustworthy and beneficial technology for everyone.