Events
CILVR Seminar: Performativity & the Dynamics of Social Prediction
Speaker: Juan Carlos Perdomo (NYU)
Location:
60 Fifth Avenue, Room 7th Floor Open Space
Videoconference link:
https://nyu.zoom.us/j/98954373715
Date: Wednesday, October 7, 2026
Abstract: Social predictions do not passively describe the future; they actively shape it. For instance, economic forecasts influence market prices, election predictions affect voter turnout, and climate forecasts shape policies that, in turn, impact future weather patterns. Given these dynamics—where the predictions we make influence the data we observe—to what extent can social events be predicted? What does it even mean to make a good prediction?
In this talk, I will provide an overview of the history behind these classical questions and provide an overview of a nascent area of research, performative prediction, that aims to address them.
Bio: Juan Carlos Perdomo is an assistant professor of computer science and data science at New York University. His research focuses on the foundations of machine learning algorithms that make predictions or decisions about people. He earned his Ph.D. in EECS from UC Berkeley and was a postdoctoral fellow at Harvard and MIT. His work has been recognized with best paper awards at ICML and FORC, as well as an AI2050 fellowship.