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Join us for our online seminar series event hosted by MIT Media Lab's Advancing Humans with AI (AHA) research program. This event features Sunny Xun Liu, Director of Research at Stanford Social Media Lab, Associate Director for Research at Stanford Tech Impact & Policy Center, and Senior Research Scholar at Stanford Tech Impact & Policy Center.
In this talk, Sunny Xun Liu examines the evolving role of media technologies in social life from early algorithmic systems to today’s generative models and emerging AI agents, mapping how these systems differ in performance, autonomy, affordances, and cultural positioning, and how, in turn, they shape human experience in distinct ways across contexts. The heart of the talk is this question: under what conditions does the media support human flourishing? The answer to this question is essential for designing, regulating, and living with AI in ways that reflect our deepest values.
Sunny Xun Liu is the Director of Research at Stanford Social Media Lab, Associate Director for Research at Stanford Tech Impact & Policy Center, and Senior Research Scholar at Stanford Tech Impact & Policy Center. Liu earned her Ph.D. in Mass Communication and Media from Michigan State University. Her research focuses on the social and psychological effects of social media and AI, adolescents and well-being, digital literacy, and how the design of social robots and AI impacts psychological perceptions. Her work has been funded by the NSF, Army Research Office, Google Research, Stanford HAI, and Stanford Social Impact Lab, and published in leading psychology and communication journals.