About

Nick Obradovich is a research scientist at the MIT Media Lab in the Scalable Cooperation group, an interdisciplinary lab of social, natural, and computer scientists focused on addressing large-scale cooperation challenges.

He holds a PhD from the University of California, San Diego and completed his postdoctoral training at Harvard University’s Belfer Center. He is an Associate Senior Research Scientist at the Max Plank Society’s Center for Humans and Machines, is the Human-Environmental Systems Fellow at Scripps Institution of Oceanography, and is a research affiliate at MIT’s Environmental Solutions Initiative.

In his work, he combines his interests in artificial intelligence, climate change, and human behavior with his affinity for data science and computational methods.

Nick’s AI research explores the impacts of AI on humanity. He has investigated the effects that AI might have on our emotions — both for good and for bad — and has examined ways to ease the behavioral study of AI. He has also studied the potential for AI to subtly alter the media we consume.

Nick’s climate research explores the human impacts of global warming. He has uncovered climatic effects on mental health, mood, physical activity, and sleep as well as democratic turnover and daily governance. He has also studied climate-related political behaviors, policy attitudes, and rates of adaptation of expectations to gradual changes in climate.

Nick’s work regularly appears in top academic journals and in major media outlets including The Atlantic, the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, and the Washington Post.