Publications

May–June 2024
Article

Should Your Brand Hire a Virtual Influencer?

By: Serim Hwang, Shunyuan Zhang, Xiao Liu and Kannan Srinivasan

Followers respond more favorably to sponsored posts by virtual influencers versus those by humans, costs are lower, and creating an influencer from scratch allows marketers to introduce more diversity. View Details

Keywords: Social Media; AI and Machine Learning; Brands and Branding; Power and Influence

Find at Harvard

Register to Read

Web

Cameron Cohen | MBA

interested in the intersection of machine learning and economics and how we can develop automation for social good. Formative experience at the intersection of technology and business Last summer, I worked... View Details

2023
Working Paper

Black-box Training Data Identification in GANs via Detector Networks

By: Lukman Olagoke, Salil Vadhan and Seth Neel

Since their inception Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs) have been popular generative models across images, audio, video, and tabular data. In this paper we study whether given access to a trained GAN, as well as fresh samples from the underlying distribution, if... View Details

Keywords: Cybersecurity; Copyright; AI and Machine Learning; Analytics and Data Science

October 2024 (Revised June 2025)
Case

Nvidia

By: Andy Wu and Matt Higgins

This case study examines Nvidia's strategic pivot from gaming GPUs to becoming a leader in general-purpose computing and AI. It explores how Nvidia leveraged its GPU architecture to dominate the growing fields of data center acceleration and AI training, outpacing... View Details

Keywords: Strategy; Technological Innovation; AI and Machine Learning; Product Development; Manufacturing Industry; Technology Industry; Electronics Industry; United States; China; Taiwan

2023
Working Paper

Insufficiently Justified Disparate Impact: A New Criterion for Subgroup Fairness

By: Neil Menghani, Edward McFowland III and Daniel B. Neill

In this paper, we develop a new criterion, "insufficiently justified disparate impact" (IJDI), for assessing whether recommendations (binarized predictions) made by an algorithmic decision support tool are fair. Our novel, utility-based IJDI criterion evaluates false... View Details

Keywords: AI and Machine Learning; Forecasting and Prediction; Prejudice and Bias

01 Oct 1997
News

Expanded Elective Curriculum Offers Students A Wealth of Choices

finest." Field-Based Learning Expanded field-based learning opportunities now include more field studies, faculty-initiated research projects in which students may participate, and fieldwork within standard... View Details

March–April 2025
Article

Strategy in an Era of Abundant Expertise: How to Thrive When AI Makes Knowledge and Know-How Cheaper and Easier to Access

By: Bobby Yerramilli-Rao, John Corwin, Yang Li and Karim R. Lakhani

The AI era is in its early stages, and the technology is evolving extremely quickly. Providers are rapidly introducing AI "copilots," "bots," and "assistants" into applications to augment employees' workflows. Examples include GitHub Copilot for coding, ServiceNow... View Details

Keywords: AI; AI and Machine Learning; Performance Productivity; Experience and Expertise; Technology Adoption

May 2020
Case

Numenta in 2020: The Future of AI

By: David B. Yoffie, Cameron Armstrong, Mei Tao and Marta Zwierz

In 2020, Numenta’s co-founder, Jeff Hawkins, completed his pathbreaking research on artificial intelligence. His co-founder and CEO, Donna Dubinsky, had to find a business model to monetize the technology. This case explores the challenges of building a business... View Details

Keywords: Artificial Intelligence; Monetization; Information Technology; Strategy; Intellectual Property; Business Model; AI and Machine Learning; Technology Industry

January 2024 (Revised February 2024)
Case

OpenAI: Idealism Meets Capitalism

By: Shikhar Ghosh and Shweta Bagai

In November 2023, the board of OpenAI, one of the most successful companies in the history of technology, decided to fire Sam Altman, its charismatic and influential CEO. Their decision shocked the corporate world and had people wondering why OpenAI had designed a... View Details

Keywords: AI; AI and Machine Learning; Governing and Advisory Boards; Ethics; Strategy; Technological Innovation; Leadership

March 2025
Case

Metaphysic AI: Rethinking the Value of Human Expertise

By: Zoë B. Cullen, Shikhar Ghosh and Shweta Bagai

In early 2025, Thomas Graham, CEO of Metaphysic, a leading AI generative video company confronted fundamental questions about who should control digital identity in a world where AI could perfectly recreate human likeness. Founded in 2021, Metaphysic first rose to fame... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Ethics; AI and Machine Learning; Intellectual Property; Rights; Negotiation; Value; Motion Pictures and Video Industry; Technology Industry

2025
Working Paper

Narrative AI and the Human-AI Oversight Paradox in Evaluating Early-Stage Innovations

By: Jacqueline N. Lane, Léonard Boussioux, Charles Ayoubi, Ying Hao Chen, Camila Lin, Rebecca Spens, Pooja Wagh and Pei-Hsin Wang

Do AI-generated narrative explanations enhance human oversight or diminish it? We investigate this question through a field experiment with 228 evaluators screening 48 early-stage innovations under three conditions: human-only, black-box AI recommendations without... View Details

Keywords: Large Language Models; AI and Machine Learning; Innovation and Invention; Decision Making

SSRN

Student-Profile

Ta-Wei "David" Huang

management and using causal inference / machine learning tools to solve marketing problems.” It was this motivation that led him to pursue a Ph.D. Initially, David’s familiarity with HBS was limited to the... View Details

16 Nov 2020
Blog Post

Flatiron School: Reflections from Summer 2020

Birchbox, Young Invincibles, Color Camp, Women 2.0 and Casper. WHAT WERE YOUR GOALS FOR THE SUMMER? Rocio Wu (MBA 2020): Learning python and machine learning had always been on... View Details

Keywords: All Industries

Web

Mason Watson | MBA

Mason Watson Computer Science/Statistics Leverett 2021 Cohort 2 I'm excited to learn and connect with other great people who are interested in technology and its potential benefits! Tech areas of interest: EdTech, Data Science, View Details

January–February 2023
Article

Forecasting COVID-19 and Analyzing the Effect of Government Interventions

By: Michael Lingzhi Li, Hamza Tazi Bouardi, Omar Skali Lami, Thomas Trikalinos, Nikolaos Trichakis and Dimitris Bertsimas

We developed DELPHI, a novel epidemiological model for predicting detected cases and deaths in the prevaccination era of the COVID-19 pandemic. The model allows for underdetection of infections and effects of government interventions. We have applied DELPHI across more... View Details

Keywords: COVID-19 Pandemic; Epidemics; Analytics and Data Science; Health Pandemics; AI and Machine Learning; Forecasting and Prediction

2025
Working Paper

Generative AI and the Nature of Work

By: Manuel Hoffmann, Sam Boysel, Frank Nagle, Sida Peng and Kevin Xu

Recent advances in artificial intelligence (AI) technology demonstrate a considerable potential to complement human capital intensive activities. While an emerging literature documents wide-ranging productivity effects of AI, relatively little attention has been paid... View Details

Keywords: Generative Ai; Digital Work; Open Source Software; Knowledge Economy; AI and Machine Learning; Open Source Distribution; Organizational Structure; Performance Productivity; Labor

SSRN

Article

Use of Crowd Innovation to Develop an Artificial Intelligence-Based Solution for Radiation Therapy Targeting

By: Raymond H. Mak, Michael G. Endres, Jin Hyun Paik, Rinat A. Sergeev, Hugo Aerts, Christopher L. Williams, Karim R. Lakhani and Eva C. Guinan

Importance: Radiation therapy (RT) is a critical cancer treatment, but the existing radiation oncologist work force does not meet growing global demand. One key physician task in RT planning involves tumor segmentation for targeting, which requires substantial... View Details

Keywords: Crowdsourcing; AI Algorithms; Health Care and Treatment; Collaborative Innovation and Invention; AI and Machine Learning

Find at Harvard