On November 24, 2023, CAIML Colloquium with Adrian Haret will take place.

Abstract

Arguments that groups can be wise, i.e., that they can be trusted to find an objectively correct answer, date back to Condorcet and are often probabilistic in nature. However, work in this tradition often operates under somewhat idealized assumptions, e.g., that agents cast ballots independently of each other. Under this assumption agents are precluded from communicating with, or otherwise influencing, each other. In real life, of course, agents often debate and exchange information prior to taking a vote. Do the optimistic conclusions of Condorcet’s celebrated result still hold when its main assumptions are relaxed? The talk will focus on current work investigating the truth-tracking abilities of groups when members of such groups communicate prior to voting.

About the Speaker

Adrian Haret is currently Assistant Professor at the MCMP. Previously, he was a postdoc at the ILLC, University of Amsterdam, and a PhD student at DBAI, TU Wien. His main research interests lie at the intersection of social choice and knowledge representation. He is interested in the dynamics of beliefs, fair collective decisions, and what makes groups smart.