Michiel Anton Bakker

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Michiel Anton Bakker

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Michiel Bakker is the Mitsui Career Development Assistant Professor in Contemporary Technology, an AI safety researcher and computational social scientist focusing on AI alignment, societal impacts of AI, and AI’s role in human-human and human-computer interaction.

He is an Assistant Professor at MIT, affiliated with the MIT Sloan School of Management, the MIT Laboratory for Information & Decision Systems, MIT’s Institute for Data, Systems & Society, and the MIT Center for Constructive Communication based at the MIT Media Lab. Michiel is also a senior research scientist at Google DeepMind.

He holds a Master’s and PhD degree in computer science from MIT, and a Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in physics from Delft University of Technology.

See Google Scholar for his most up-to-date list of publications.

Publications

Google Scholar
"Statistical Discrimination in Learning Agents."

Duéñez-Guzmán, Edgar A., Kevin R. McKee, Yiran Mao, Ben Coppin, Silvia Chiappa, Alexander Sasha Vezhnevets, Michiel A. Bakker, Yoram Bachrach, Suzanne Sadedin, William Isaac, Karl Tuyls, and Joel Z. Leibo. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Forthcoming. arXiv Preprint.

"Can AI Mediation Improve Democratic Deliberation?"

Tessler, MH, Georgina Evans, Michiel A Bakker, Iason Gabriel, Sophie Bridgers, Rishub Jain, Raphael Koster, Verena Rieser, Anca Dragan, Matthew Botvinick, and Christopher Summerfield. Artificial Intelligence and Democratic Freedoms, August 1, 2025.

"Democratic AI is Possible. The Democracy Levels Framework Shows How It Might Work."

Aviv Ovadya, Kyle Redman, Luke Thorburn, Quan Ze Chen, Oliver Smith, Flynn Devine, Andrew Konya, Smitha Milli, Manon Revel, K. J. Kevin Feng, Amy X. Zhang, Bilva Chandra, Michiel A. Bakker, and Atoosa Kasirzadeh. In Forty-second International Conference on Machine Learning (ICML), Vancouver, Canada: 2025. arXiv.

"The Impact of Advanced AI Systems on Democracy."

Summerfield, Christopher, Lisa P Argyle, Michiel A. Bakker et al. Nature Human Behaviour (2025).

"Using Collective Dialogues and AI to Find Common Ground Between Israeli and Palestinian Peacebuilders."

Andrew Konya, Luke Thorburn, Wasim Almasri, Oded Adomi Leshem, Ariel D. Procaccia, Lisa Schirch, and Michiel A. Bakker. In FAccT'25: ACM Conference on Fairness, Accountability, and Transparency, 2025. arXiv.

"AI Can Help Humans Find Common Ground in Democratic Deliberation."

Tessler, Michael Henry, Michiel A. Bakker, Daniel Jarrett, Hannah Sheahan, Martin J. Chadwick, Raphael Koster, Georgina Evans, Lucy Campbell-Gillingham, Tantum Collins, David C. Parkes, Matthew Botvinick, and Christopher Summerfield. Science Vol. 386, No. 6719 (2024): eadq2852.

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Recent Insights

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Space, robots, and a new AI frontier

Accenture is a global leader in professional services, with over 700,000 employees and clients across 120 countries. Renowned for its work in strategy, technology, and digital transformation, the firm has recently expanded into the robotics and space technology sectors. As they explore how to use AI to accelerate new products and businesses in these areas, they’re continuing to work with MIT—this past spring, with two teams of students in MIT’s first ever Generative AI (GenAI) Lab course.

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Generative AI to advance human rights

The International Center for Advocates Against Discrimination (ICAAD) is a human rights advocacy organization that equips those most harmed by systemic inequity with the necessary tools to drive systemic change. ICAAD empowers marginalized communities by building their capacity, strengthening their resilience, and fostering innovation. Working with MIT Sloan’s first cohort of Generative AI Lab (GenAI-Lab) students, ICAAD is accelerating its groundbreaking work, helping communities and governments improve the lives of those who need it most.

Aug 11, 2025
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Media Highlights

Press The New York Times

Nearly 200 economists and tech leaders warn of A.I. threats

Artificial intelligence could transform the economy faster than any previous technology, and policymakers must move equally quickly to figure out how to respond, a group of economists and researchers are warning. The statement, titled "We Must Act Now,"was signed by nearly 200 people, including 15 Nobel laureates. MIT Sloan signatories are Institute Professor Daron Acemoglu, professor Sinan Aral, assistant professor Michiel Bakker, research scientist Christian Catalini, Professor Emeritus Bengt Holmström, professor Simon Johnson, professor Thomas W. Malone, professor Scott Stern, and principal research scientist Neil Thompson.

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Press Financial Times

Sustainable thinking: Research aligned with green goals

A paper, co-authored by assistant professor Michiel Bakker, described efforts to train a large language model as an AI mediator to help small groups in the UK find common ground while discussing divisive political issues such as Brexit, immigration, the minimum wage, climate change, and universal childcare. The paper was rated highly for sustainable development goals (SDG).

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