Ma+Be24: Machine+Behavior Conference 2024 Harnack House Berlin, Germany, April 29-30, 2024

Machines powered by artificial intelligence (AI) increasingly mediate our social, cultural, economic, and political interactions. With the rise of generative AI, machines are also becoming active agents in the world. Understanding the emergent behavioral dynamics of intelligent machines and human-machine collectives is essential to our ability to control their actions, reap their benefits, and minimize their harms. 

This conference is a continuation of a discussion that started in this Nature article, which aims to scope a broad scientific research agenda to study machine behaviour and its relation to human behavior. 

The conference brings together scientists from computer science and behavioral science (psychology, cognitive science, economics, political science, anthropology, biology, etc.) to advance our understanding of human and machine behavior.

The conference will explore the fundamental questions of this emerging field, as well as the technical, legal, and institutional constraints on the study of machine behaviour.

Submission Guidelines

We invite submissions for the poster track of the Machine+Behaviour conference 2024. This track is designed as a platform for researchers, particularly those early in their careers, to showcase their latest results, ongoing projects, and innovative ideas in a succinct, high-impact manner. Posters will be prominently displayed at the conference venue and will be the focus of a dedicated session.

We invite you to submit a two-page abstract including one (mandatory) descriptive figure and caption by the 31st of January 2024, via our EasyChair submission. The two-page limit includes figures and references. We only accept posters.

The deadline has been extended to the 7th of February 2024, 23:59 CET.

List of Topics

We are particularly interested in submissions that adopt an interdisciplinary approach to explore the social and behavioral impact of AI, with a special focus on generative AI. The conference embraces a wide array of methods, including techniques from:

• Behavioral Science: Designing experimental paradigms to understand AI behavior in real-world contexts and its impact on human behavior.
• Complexity Science: Exploring generative AI, and its interaction with humans, as a complex system on an individual and collective level.
• Cultural Evolution: Investigating the co-evolution of humans and generative AI and its cultural implications.
• Economics: Assessing the economic behavior of machines and the resulting social and economic impacts.

Committees

Conference Co-Chairs

• Iyad Rahwan, Max Planck Institute for Human Development
• Jean-Francois Bonnefon, French Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique
• Azim Shariff, The University of British Columbia

Organizing committee

Members from the Center for Humans and Machines, Max Planck Institute for Human Development:

• Mengchen Dong
• Neele Engelmann
• Fabian Baumann
• Ali Alhosseini
• Joanna Olejnik
• Yvonne Bialek
• Gabija Vilkaitė
• Elizabeth Grecia Almaguer Saldivar
• Amee Assad

Venue

The conference will be held in Berlin, Germany. The Harnack House is located in the center of the German “Oxford in Berlin”, which is characterized by excellent scientific institutions. Established in 1929 as guest house and conference venue of the Kaiser Wilhelm Society in Berlin-Dahlem, it distinguished itself, particularly in the early years, quickly as an international scientific club. Since 2000 the house has been the conference venue of the Max Planck Society.

Contact

All questions about submissions should be emailed to chm-pr@mpib-berlin.mpg.de