Harini Suresh is an Assistant Professor of Computer Science at Brown University. Her work explores approaches to AI development and governance that center context and collective agency.
Her research takes an interdisciplinary and participatory approach, building on sustained collaborations with journalists, activists, mental health practitioners, and other community-based organizations. At Brown, Harini leads the Data in Society Collective (DISCO Lab), which develops frameworks, methods, and systems for community-controlled AI. Some of the lab’s recent research has explored what “ownership” over AI tools might mean for journalists given the fragmented supply chains of large language models; how spaces for collective dialogue can help ground data production in contextual knowledge; and how decentralized infrastructures can support community agency on social media platforms. Harini is also a core faculty in the Center for Technological Responsibility, Reimagination, and Redesign (CNTR) at Brown and a CRA Trustworthy AI Fellow. Previously, Harini was a postdoctoral researcher at Cornell Tech, examining the limitations of participatory approaches in the era of “general-purpose” AI systems. She completed her PhD, M.Eng. and B.Sc. in Computer Science at MIT.