Malihe Alikhani
 

I am an Assistant Professor at Northeastern University’s Khoury College of Computer Sciences. I also serve as a resident Visiting Fellow at the Brookings Institution, focusing on AI policy, the Ethics Chair of the Association for Computational Linguistics, and a member of the US Technology Policy Committee of the Association for Computing Machinery.
 

I develop safe and fair AI systems that enhance communication, decision-making, and knowledge sharing across disciplines and populations. My work bridges academia, applied AI research, and public policy to ensure that AI serves society responsibly and effectively. I have served as a science and technology advisor in Congress and collaborated with the United Nations in Africa on initiatives using AI to support anti-violence efforts and promote equitable access to education and health.

Building on this vision, as the lead of the Contextual AI Lab, where we focus on building embodied systems that operate meaningfully within context across language, embodiment, and society to support safer, fairer, and more productive interactions between humans and machines. By integrating insights from cognitive and social sciences with machine learning, our models capture the richness of human interpretation and support collaborative meaning construction.
 

Through this work, I aim to shape a future that expands the human capabilities for learning, health, creativity, and wellbeing, a future where intelligent systems foster these as rights.

email: m.alikhani AT northeastern.edu