Postdoctoral Researcher (m/f/div) in AI-Driven Cultural Evolution

The Center for Humans and Machines (CHM) at the Max Planck Institute for Human Development in Berlin conducts interdisciplinary science to understand, anticipate, and shape major disruptions from digital media and Artificial Intelligence to the way we think, learn, work, play, cooperate, and govern. Our goal is to understand how machines are shaping human society today and how they may continue to shape it in the future. The center is comprised of an interdisciplinary, international, and diverse group of scholars, and a science support team. To complement this team, we are looking to fill up to two (2) positions as

Postdoctoral Researcher (m/f/div) in AI-Driven Cultural Evolution
(E 13 TVöD; 39 hours / week)

The position

• We seek to hire postdoctoral researchers to work on ambitious, high-impact research on cultural evolution driven by Artificial Intelligence (AI). The successful candidate will work with a team of interdisciplinary researchers to investigate the impact of AI on cultural evolutionary processes, with the aim of mapping the different ways in which AI may shape human culture.
• The postdoctoral researcher will be responsible for conducting empirical studies, analyzing data, and publishing research findings in leading scientific journals. They will also work collaboratively with other team members to develop a research agenda for studying hybrid cultural evolution in the digital age.
• The research will involve building generative AI models which may also interact with humans in the context of innovation and exploration of visual art, literature, science, and design.
• Projects will be conducted under the supervision of Prof. Iyad Rahwan and may involve collaboration with other colleagues at the center.
• The successful candidate will have no formal teaching requirements.
• The position will include generous support for computational equipment and computing (e.g., GPU cluster), recruitment of sizable online participant cohorts, travel to conferences and collaborators, and funds for hiring freelance designers and developers to produce bespoke online experiments.
• The position is limited to two years, with the possibility of an extension for a third year.
• Starting date is October 1, 2023, or later.

Your profile

The successful applicant must have the following:

• A Ph.D. in a computational science field (e.g., computational social science, computer science, cognitive science, physics, applied mathematics, or related)
• Demonstrated ability to produce high-impact research, evidenced by a strong publication record
• Strong technical skills in applying Artificial Intelligence, especially deep learning, natural language processing, computer vision, or reinforcement learning
• Advanced programming skills and proficiency with deep learning libraries (i.e., TensorFlow or PyTorch)
• Experience designing or building web-based interfaces (i.e., HTML, JS)
• Familiarity with common concepts in cultural evolution or at least some experience in working with cultural data
• A commitment to following the best methodological practices in computer and behavioral sciences, such as pre-registration of studies, sharing of well-documented computer code, version control, such as Git, writing reproducible research reports, open sharing of data whenever feasible, etc.
• High proficiency in English
• High motivation and ability to work independently and as part of an (interdisciplinary) team alongside other computational scientists and behavioral scientists, ability to coordinate feedback from teams of senior collaborators
• Willingness to present and communicate research in internal and external seminars and conferences

Desirable skills include

• Experience designing and conducting behavioral or economic experiments in the lab or online via platforms such as Prolific or Amazon Mechanical Turk and/or recruitment of panels
• Experience developing and deploying interactive web applications (e.g., React, FastAPI, Docker, Kubernetes)
• Demonstrated experience with applying AI in creative domains, such as using large language models in creative writing or using diffusion models in visual art

Our offer

• An interesting position at the internationally renowned Center for Humans and Machines
• Working in a dynamic multidisciplinary team with colleagues from experimental psychology, evolutionary anthropology, art, science, economics, computer science, and physics
• Contribution to the multifaceted and impactful research and the opportunity to conduct scientific work related to artificial intelligence and human-machine interaction
• Strong support from our science support team and the opportunity to guide and work with research assistants
• Support with public outreach (e.g., social media, print media, or exhibitions)
• Room to develop and realize your ideas
• Possibility to work partly from home office

Your application
The Max Planck Society strives for gender and diversity equality. We welcome applications from all backgrounds. The Max Planck Society is committed to increasing the number of individuals with disabilities in its workforce and therefore encourages applications from such qualified individuals. To apply, please address a

• statement of research interests
• a CV without a photo
• a copy of relevant certificates
• (p)reprints of three publications led by the applicant
• a list of four referees

to: Prof. Dr. Iyad Rahwan, MPI for Human Development, Lentzeallee 94, 14195 Berlin. Please submit all documents in ONE FILE via our recruiting platform. Applications will be evaluated on a first-come-first-served basis and will continue to be received until July 1st, 2023, or until the position(s) is/are filled. The data protection declaration for the processing of personal data within the scope of your application can be found here.