New Faculty Advance AI

The University of Chicago Booth School of Business is pleased to welcome three new faculty members whose research sits at the forefront of artificial intelligence, language, behavior, and societal impact. As part of Booth’s continued investment in AI and its role in shaping business, markets, and institutions, these new scholars bring diverse perspectives, a collaborative spirit, and a shared commitment to both foundational research and real-world impact. Learn more about incoming faculty members Kawin Ethayarajh, Suproteem Sarkar, and Ted Sumers.

Kawin Ethayarajh: Behavioral Machine Learning and Real-World AI

Kawin Ethayarajh, Assistant Professor of Applied AI and Kathryn and Grant Swick Faculty Scholar, joins Booth from Princeton University, where he was a postdoctoral fellow at the Princeton Language and Intelligence initiative.

His research introduces and advances behavioral machine learning, a new paradigm situated at the intersection of AI, behavioral science, and economics. “Machine learning is not a sterile industrial process,” Ethayarajh explains. “It is bound by the behavior of real-world actors—consumers, firms, states—not just clean, idealized datasets.” By incorporating insights from behavioral economics, he designs algorithms and systems that are grounded in how people and institutions actually behave.

Among his most recognized contributions are Stanford Human Preferences, one of the largest datasets of human preferences over text, and Kahneman-Tversky Optimization, an algorithm now widely used to align language models with feedback.

His work has received several accolades, including a Meta Fellowship (2021) and an ICML Outstanding Paper Award (2022), and has been incorporated into some of the most widely adopted language models.

When asked about his decision to join Booth, Ethayarajh points to the university’s unique intellectual ecosystem: “I work in an emerging field that demands cross-disciplinary dialogue. Booth’s unparalleled strength in economics, law, and the social sciences makes it an ideal place to ground the future of AI in real-world complexity.”

He aims to build a more human-centered vision of AI—one that, like behavioral economics before it, acknowledges the messiness of real-world decision-making. “Creating AI with people in mind is the best way to create a tide that raises all boats,” he says.

Ethayarajh earned his PhD in Computer Science from Stanford University and his BSc from the University of Toronto.

Suproteem Sarkar: Algorithms, Behavior, and Innovation

Suproteem Sarkar joins Chicago Booth with a research agenda that spans economics, finance, artificial intelligence, and behavioral science. His work investigates how algorithms interact with behavior, productivity, and innovation.His recent projects include training language models for economic forecasting, and analyzing how market participants perceive firms and technologies. Sarkar is interested in how new technologies interact with business and policy—and how this intersection will change over time.

“Empirical findings in the economics of algorithms are shaped by the current generation of technologies and adoption patterns,” he says. “It is important to assess how these patterns may evolve.”

Sarkar received his PhD in Economics, SM in Applied Mathematics, and AB in Computer Science from Harvard University. He has also built experience with technology development through previous roles at Microsoft and Google.

At Booth, Sarkar looks forward to collaborating across disciplines: “Researchers here and throughout the university are taking creative approaches to important questions.”

Ted Sumers: Communication, Cognition, and the Consequences of Speech

Currently in a research position at Anthropic, Ted Sumers will join Chicago Booth in the fall of 2026. His background blends cognitive science, computational modeling, and applied AI safety. He completed his PhD in Cognitive Science at Princeton and has previously held roles as a data scientist and engineering manager at Uber and Automatic Labs.

Sumers’ research investigates how people use language to influence the world—both in terms of beliefs and actions. His work models the communicative intent and impact of speech acts, aiming to deepen our understanding of human communication while simultaneously informing the safe and effective deployment of language models.

“LLMs don’t just transfer information—they can also shape decision-making, delegate tasks, and influence outcomes,” Sumers explains. “Understanding the mechanics of that influence is crucial if we want to ensure they act in alignment with human intentions.”

Sumers sees Booth as a rare space where fundamental research and real-world applications come together. “Booth’s new AI concentration offers a unique opportunity to pursue rigorous theoretical work while engaging with its practical consequences across industries,” he says. “I am eager to collaborate with business leaders and practitioners outside the traditional tech domain.”

His dual focus on cognitive models and AI alignment reflects a commitment to understanding how we communicate—and what it means when AI systems start to do the same.

These new appointments reflect Booth’s expanding commitment to addressing the ethical, strategic, and societal implications of artificial intelligence. With wide-ranging expertise—from behaviorally grounded algorithms to cognitive modeling and applied AI safety—Ethayarajh, Sumers, and Sarkar exemplify the school’s vision of AI scholarship: deep in theory, broad in application, and fundamentally human in orientation.

As Booth continues to grow its AI research community, we look forward to the contributions of these scholars in shaping the dialogue around technology and business—and in training the next generation of leaders for a world transformed by intelligent systems.