The Oxford Internet Institute (OII) and Faculty of Philosophy, University of Oxford, have appointed Ekaterina Hertog as Associate Professor of AI & Society.

Dr Hertog – who will also become a Senior Research Fellow at Wadham College – will conduct research into the ethics and the social impact of AI and play an integral role in the activities of the new Oxford Institute for Ethics in AI.

Dr Hertog’s research interests lie at the intersection of family sociology and digital sociology. She leads the DomesticAI project that aims to scope the technologies’ potential to free up time now locked into unpaid domestic labour and measure how willing people are to introduce these technologies into their private lives.

Recent papers include an examination of the susceptibility of domestic work to automation and a paper estimating the potential for changes in individual daily lives once some domestic work is automated. She also co-authored a blog post for the British Academy website on the importance of considering the future of unpaid work.

Professor Vicki Nash, Director of the Oxford Internet Institute, said: “I’m delighted to be able to appoint Ekaterina to this role. Her research interests and focus on AI, gender and labour fit in well with the interests of so many of our existing OII colleagues and students. I look forward to seeing how her research agenda will develop in the light of this new collaboration across our two Institutes.”

Professor John Tasioulas, Director, Institute for Ethics in AI, Department of Philosophy, University of Oxford, said: “The appointment of Ekaterina is wonderful news. As a social scientist she will greatly enrich the authentically interdisciplinary approach to ethics in AI that is being developed by the Institute. We look forward to welcoming her to our group.”

Dr Michael Froggatt, Acting Senior Tutor and Tutor for Admissions, Wadham College, said: ‘We very much look forward to welcoming Dr Hertog back to the College. Ekaterina’s research has obvious synergies with that of Wadham Fellows and students working in the fields of AI, philosophy and ethics, and gender studies, so we anticipate many fruitful interdisciplinary conversations resulting from her election to our Fellowship.”

On accepting her appointment Dr Hertog said: “I am excited to be joining the Oxford Internet Institute and the Oxford Institute for Ethics in AI and to continue my existing collaborations and establish new ones with colleagues there. I am also really happy to be returning to Wadham College, where I held a Junior Research Fellowship many years ago.”

Dr Hertog will take up the post on 1 March 2022, joining from the Department of Sociology at the University of Oxford.