The Internet has transformed political behaviour, from voting and campaigning for policy change, to protest and even revolution. This poses a challenge to states, as political movements become more turbulent, unpredictable, and societies harder to govern.
To understand this radically transformed political world, we are re-examining the models and conceptual frameworks of political science and theory, and developing social data science methodologies to understand political behaviour.
This project examines the fragmented legislations and legal landscape that governs the development, sale, and deployment of AI technologies used for government surveillance.
Based on a case-study analysis of bias in the Chicago Crime Prediction Algorithm, this project explores the extent to which evidence of algorithmic bias can be used to guide policy responses to the societal disparities replicated in these tools.
This project uses machine learning techniques to model technical trends in internet shutdown behaviours, and positions these technical developments within broader censorship activities, and the associated deterioration of civil and political rights.
15 November 2023
As the media frenzy surrounding the AI Safety Summit subsides, Helen Margetts, Professor of Society and the Internet, Oxford Internet Institute, shares her reflections from attending the Summit and considers its long-term impact on AI policy.
18 October 2023
New analysis suggest fears about the impact of generative AI on the misinformation landscape are overblown.
29 September 2023
The United Kingdom is organising an Artificial Intelligence Safety Summit at Bletchley Park in November, aiming to develop a shared global understanding of the risks that may emerge from powerful new Foundation Models.
Politico, 18 September 2023
For Vili Lehdonvirta, a Finnish researcher based at Oxford, the AI revolution has a fundamentally physical basis, one that could be as relevant to global power as the geography of proven oil reserves and pipelines has been for decades.
BBC Radio Scotland, 27 September 2023
BBC Radio Scotland interviews OII AI expert Dr Keegan McBride about the upcoming UK AI Safety Summit and likely outcomes for the regulation of AI.
Politico, 19 September 2023
For Vili Lehdonvirta, a Finnish researcher based at Oxford, the AI revolution has a fundamentally physical basis, one that could be as relevant to global power as the geography of proven oil reserves and pipelines has been for decades.
Professor of Society and the Internet
Helen Margetts is Professor of Society and the Internet, a political scientist specialising in digital government and politics. She was Director of the OII from 2011-18. She is a Professorial Fellow of Mansfield College.
The OII is home to some of the top academics studying digital politics and government, including Professor Helen Margetts. She is a political scientist specialising in the relationship between digital technology and government, politics and public policy. She is an advocate for the potential of multi-disciplinarity and computational social science for our understanding of political behaviour and development of public policy in a digital world.
She has published over a hundred books, articles and policy reports in this area, including Political Turbulence: How Social Media Shape Collective Action (with Peter John, Scott Hale and Taha Yasseri, 2015); Paradoxes of Modernization (with Perri 6 and Christopher Hood, 2010); Digital Era Governance (with Patrick Dunleavy, 2006, 2008); and The Tools of Government in the Digital Age (with Christopher Hood, 2007).
Professor Margetts joined the OII in 2004 from University College London where she was a Professor in Political Science and Director of the School of Public Policy. She began her career as a computer programmer and systems analyst with Rank Xerox after receiving her BSc in mathematics from the University of Bristol. She returned to study at the London School of Economics and Political Science in 1989, completing an MSc in Politics and Public Policy in 1990 and a PhD in Government in 1996. She worked as a researcher at LSE from 1991 to 1994 and a lecturer at Birkbeck College, University of London from 1994 to 1999.
Research Associate
In 2022 Jonathan Bright became the Head of AI for Public Services at the Turing Institute, having previously been a faculty member of the OII. A political scientist, he specialises in computational and ‘big data’ approaches to the social sciences.
Associate Professor, Senior Research Fellow
Dr Scott A. Hale is an Associate Professor, Senior Research Fellow, and Turing Fellow. He develops and applies computer science techniques to the social sciences focusing on increasing equitable access to quality information.
Professor of Internet Studies
Philip N. Howard is a professor of sociology, information, and international affairs. He is Director of the Programme on Democracy and Technology, and is a Professorial Fellow of Balliol College.
