Speaker: Peter Lewis, Ontario Tech University
Date & Time: Thursday, April 2, 2026 · 10:00–11:00 AM (ET)
Location: Pomerene Hall Room 350 (Project Zone)
Food: Coffee provided
Host: Jenna M. Kline, PhD Candidate, Department of Computer Science and Engineering, The Ohio State University
As AI systems become more autonomous and increasingly embedded in everyday life, social intelligence is becoming just as critical as technical capability. Today’s AI systems often exhibit superhuman performance in narrow domains, yet lack key aspects of human social reasoning—creating challenges as they interact more deeply with people and institutions.
In this seminar, Dr. Peter Lewis will explore how autonomous systems can be designed to function effectively within hybrid human–AI societies. Using the case study of institution formation for the sustainable governance of shared resources, he will demonstrate how agent-based modeling and evolutionary game theory provide complementary tools for understanding and shaping collective behavior.
The talk will highlight how these approaches enable precise predictions about system dynamics, as well as reveal counterintuitive insights—particularly around the role of cognitive bias in shaping institutions and outcomes.
Through this lens, the seminar will outline a path toward developing AI agents with stronger social intelligence—capable of supporting collective action, avoiding antisocial outcomes, and contributing to more sustainable and desirable societal systems.
About the Speaker:
Dr. Peter Lewis is a researcher in artificial intelligence and complex systems at Ontario Tech University. His work focuses on multi-agent systems, collective intelligence, and the design of socio-technical systems, with an emphasis on how autonomous agents can coordinate, cooperate, and contribute to effective governance in hybrid human–AI environments.