SHASS Weekly
New J-PAL research and policy initiative to test and scale AI innovations to fight poverty
In this week’s newsletter, learn about a J-PAL project investigating how to scale AI-enabled poverty fighting initiatives, discover how MIT his helping high schoolers learn calculus, meet the 2026 Faculty Press Award winner, and more.
The philosophical puzzle of rational artificial intelligence
In this week’s newsletter, learn about a new course attempting to teach students about AI and rationality, meet an MIT professor exploring how to improve productivity in U.S. manufacturing, catch up with MIT alumna Rujul Gandhi ’22, and more.
Bridging science and society in the emerging bioeconomy
This week’s newsletter features a new course focused on the emerging bioeconomy, a Nobel Prize-winning economist’s recommendations for companies interested in developing pro-worker AI, literature in the age of AI, and more.
The “delicious joy” of creating and recreating music
In this week’s newsletter, explore how ethnomusicologist Leslie Tilley investigates how musicians can refashion music, explore how consciousness works, look into the future of labor in the age of AI, and more.
MIT Human Insight Collaborative announces funding awards for 25 projects
In this week’s newsletter, learn about the new MITHIC-funded projects, discover where Times Higher Education ranked the humanities at MIT, meet the 2026 Levitan Prize in the Humanities winner, and more.
