Danks Named AI2050 Senior Fellow for Research on Human-AI Values

David Danks, the William L. Polk Jr. and Carolyn K. Polk Jefferson Scholars Foundation Distinguished University Professor of Philosophy, Artificial Intelligence, and Data Science at the University of Virginia, has been named a 2026 AI2050 Senior Fellow by Schmidt Sciences, a philanthropic organization that funds research in artificial intelligence, science and technology to help address global challenges.

Danks is one of six senior researchers selected for the fifth cohort of AI2050 Fellows, which includes 22 early-career scholars. Collectively, the 28 researchers will receive up to $16 million over three years to address long-term challenges in artificial intelligence and help ensure the technology develops responsibly, expands human knowledge and benefits society.

Danks, who holds a joint appointment in the College and Graduate School of Arts & Sciences and UVA’s School of Data Science, focuses on the intersection of philosophy, cognitive science and machine learning. His research examines the ethical, psychological and policy questions surrounding artificial intelligence and robotics.

Exploring How AI and Humans Will Evolve Together

As an AI2050 Senior Fellow, Danks will study how human values and AI systems will influence one another over time, with the goal of translating that research into practical guidance for AI design, development and governance.

“In this Fellowship, I will be investigating the ways in which AI is reshaping our values, not merely reflecting them,” Danks said.

Danks’ project starts from the premise that technologies have the potential to change the values of the people who use them. As AI systems increasingly learn from and adapt to people, he argues that human and AI values are likely to coevolve. Understanding those dynamics, he said, is essential to designing AI that remains beneficial not only today but into the future.

AI2050 is a philanthropic initiative of Schmidt Sciences, a nonprofit organization founded in 2024 by Eric and Wendy Schmidt to support scientific and technological research aimed at addressing significant societal challenges. Schmidt Sciences works across a variety of areas including AI and advanced computing, astrophysics and space, biosciences, climate and science systems.

The AI2050 initiative specifically supports researchers tackling difficult, often interdisciplinary problems in artificial intelligence that are important to ensuring society benefits from the technology. Its fellows receive funding for ambitious projects and participate in a broader research community designed to encourage collaboration and shared learning.

The fellowship’s emphasis on questions that cannot be answered by technology alone aligns closely with Arts & Sciences’ interdisciplinary focus on the subject of artificial intelligence. The College approaches AI both as a subject of inquiry and as a tool for discovery, bringing together perspectives from the sciences, social sciences, arts and humanities to examine how AI organizes knowledge, where it falls short of human insight and what people and machines can accomplish together.

“We are incredibly proud to have Professor Danks on our faculty in Arts & Sciences,” said Christa Acampora, Buckner W. Clay Professor of Philosophy and dean of the College. “This recognition demonstrates both the impact of his work and its promise for the future. Schmidt Sciences Fellows are selected for their ability to tackle hard problems in pursuit of societal benefit, and that's exactly the kind of leadership professor Danks shows among his colleagues and students on and off Grounds. He’s an inspiration to us all.”

The 2026 cohort brings the AI2050 community to 127 fellows representing 50 institutions in 11 countries.