Lab PI
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Sydney Levine
I am an Assistant Professor in the Psychology Department at NYU, where my lab studies questions at the intersection of the cognitive science of morality and AI safety. I am also a part-time Visiting Research Scientist at Google Deepmind.
Lab Members
Logan Walls
I often feel like I have two selves: a scientist and an engineer. The scientist wants to understand how the human mind can do so much with so little. A human mind can invent calculus, create a beautiful painting, perform a gymnastics routine, or navigate the complexities of social relationships --- all while using only a modest amount of energy and a single computational architecture. The engineer wants to tinker and to build AI systems that mimic the scope, and efficiency of the human mind. My current work is developing a resource rational theory of moral reasoning and applying insights from the theory to AI alignment.
Prior to NYU, I completed my BS in Informatics at the University of Washington in Seattle, spent some time in industry as a data scientist and engineer, and then completed my PhD in Psychology at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.
Misha O'Keeffe
Hi! I graduated from UW-Madison in '24 with a background in psychology, economics, and physics. As an undergrad, I worked with the CoCoDev Lab (Harvard), the SCD Lab (Yale), and the CSC Lab (Yale). Upon graduating, I became an inaugural IRiSS predoctoral fellow at Stanford, working jointly across the Social Learning Lab and the Social Interaction Lab. Starting in fall 2026, I'll be working with Sydney Levine and Todd Gureckis, supported by the NSF GRFP.
I'm quite broadly interested in how we build and deploy representations of others, and how this can be instantiated computationally. Outside of work, I love being outdoors, reading, and watching movies!
Ben Sterling
Broadly, I am interested in the computational principles that underlie human cooperation and normativity: How do we make sense of each others’ actions? How do we develop norms and institutions to help coordinate joint action? How are these abstractions transmitted to each other within a lifetime and across generations? In thinking about these questions, I hope my research will inform the development and deployment of cooperative, human-aligned machines.
Prior to coming to NYU, I earned a BS in Cognitive Science from Yale, then worked as a predoc with Ashwin Rajadesingan at UT Austin in Computational Social Science. In my free time I often go to concerts and follow baseball.
Yu Ying Chiu (Kelly)
My research focuses on the intersection of Human-centered AI and AI Safety. Broadly, I’m intrigued by how humans and AI understand the world, think and make important decisions, and how we can use these insights to better support humans using AI and ensure AI can benefit humanity.
I’m a final-year master’s student in Computational Linguistics (NLP) at the University of Washington, advised by Prof. Yejin Choi and Prof. Tim Althoff. Currently, I’m a Research Associate at New York University, working with Prof. Sydney Levine (NYU) and Prof. Mitchell Gordon (MIT).
Ziyi Meng
My research broadly focuses on human–AI alignment: how people and AI systems can align their intentions to coordinate effectively, and how this social collaboration can be made safer. I am interested in drawing insights from social cognition research to build assistive technologies that act as ethical cooperators with humans.
Before joining NYU, I worked at the Visual Intelligence Lab (UCLA), the Culture, Cognition, and Coevolution Lab (Harvard), and the Laboratory for Social Cognitive Science (Harvard). I hold a B.A. in psychology and political science from UCLA.
Visiting Post-doc
Julien Lie-Panis
Julien Lie-Panis is a postdoctoral researcher working at the intersection of evolutionary psychology, cognitive science and game theory. He studies large-scale cooperation and the psychology that underpins it — how human minds shape the rules, norms, and institutions that allow cooperation to extend beyond small groups.
He completed his PhD at École Normale Supérieure under Jean-Baptiste André and Jean-Louis Dessalles in 2023, and has since worked with Christian Hilbe (Max Planck), Pat Barclay (Guelph), Josh Tenenbaum (MIT), and Sydney Levine (NYU).
Lab Alumni
Kelly will go here when she starts grad school in the Fall!
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