Aleksandra Korolova
Princeton University
Lessons from Auditing the Hidden Societal Impacts of Ad Delivery Algorithms
Abstract
Although targeted advertising has been touted as a way to give advertisers a choice in who they reach, increasingly, ad delivery algorithms designed by the ad platforms are invisibly refining those choices. In this talk, Aleksandra Korolova will present findings from "black-box" auditing of the role of ad delivery algorithms in shaping who sees opportunity and political ads using only the tools and data accessible to any advertiser. She will then discuss legal and policy efforts to mitigate the harmful effects of ad delivery in these domains, including their shortcomings and potential paths forward.
About
Aleksandra Korolova is an Assistant Professor of Computer Science and Public Affairs at Princeton and a member of Princeton's Center for Information Technology Policy. She studies the societal impacts of algorithms and machine learning and develops and deploys algorithms that enable data-driven innovations while preserving privacy and fairness. She also designs and performs algorithm and AI audits. Aleksandra is a recipient of the 2024 Sloan Research Fellowship, 2020 NSF CAREER award, a co-winner of the 2011 PET Award for outstanding research in privacy enhancing technologies for exposing privacy violations of microtargeted advertising and a runner-up for the 2015 PET Award for RAPPOR, the first commercial deployment of differential privacy. Aleksandra's most recent research, on discrimination in ad delivery, has received the 2019 CSCW Honorable Mention Award and Recognition of Contribution to Diversity and Inclusion and was a runner-up for the 2021 WWW Best Student Paper Award. Prior to joining Princeton, Aleksandra was a WiSE Gabilan Assistant Professor of Computer Science at USC, a Privacy Advisor at Snap and a Research Scientist at Google.