Katherine Elkins, AI safety researcher and author

Katherine Elkins

AI safety researcher · cultural intelligence scholar · human-centered AI leader

Katherine Elkins is a researcher who shows why AI safety cannot be solved without culture, narrative, judgment, memory, and institutions. Her work connects AI safety, computational humanities, cultural data governance, narrative intelligence, and public-interest AI to ask how artificial intelligence reshapes human meaning, creativity, decision-making, and social institutions.

Profiles: Wikipedia Grokipedia Google Scholar ORCID CV

Early on AI

2016

Human-centered AI curriculum and AI CoLab

2020

GPT-3 Writer's Turing Test

2022

The Shapes of Stories, Cambridge University Press

2024

CAISI / AI safety audit / PMLA / ICML oral

2025

Schmidt Sciences HAVI / Public AI / OpenAI Higher Education Forum

Current Work

CAISI / NIST AI Safety Institute Consortium

Co-leads the team representing the Modern Language Association at the NIST AI Safety Institute Consortium.

Schmidt Sciences HAVI / Archival Intelligence

Co-PI of Archival Intelligence, a Schmidt Sciences Humanities and AI Virtual Institute project.

The Shapes of Stories

Cambridge Element on sentiment analysis for narrative, Cambridge University Press, 2022.

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Research

Six connected areas spanning AI safety, governance, sentiment analysis, creativity, philosophy of mind and literature, and higher education.

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Media

Selected press, broadcast, audio, and public scholarship.

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Books

Books, lectures, and edited work, including The Shapes of Stories and the Proust philosophical perspectives collection.

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Recognition

Grants, fellowships, awards, teaching honors, and selected research reception.

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Media and FAQ

Media

Selected press, broadcast, and public scholarship appearances across research, standards work, and archival intelligence.

  • Christian Science Monitor on language-model evaluation at NIST
  • NPR / WOSU on the Archival Intelligence project
  • Forbes on AI, the humanities, and interdisciplinary research
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FAQ

Answers on research focus, AI safety methods, the human-centered AI curriculum, and where to find the full body of work.

  • What defines the research program across AI and the humanities?
  • How does the confidence-scoring audit methodology work?
  • Where can collaborators, journalists, and students start?
Read the FAQ