Professor Parthasarathy directs the University of Michigan’s Technology Assessment Project (TAP), an applied research think tank dedicated to anticipating the implications of emerging technologies and using these insights to develop better technology policies.

Technology assessment Project

Established in 2019, the TAP studies historical cases (what we call an analogical case study approach) to understand the social, economic, ethical, and political dimensions of emerging technologies. We then use these insights to offer recommendations to policymakers, tech developers, and others on how they might maximize societal benefit and minimize risk. Part of the University of Michigan’s Science, Technology, and Public Policy (STPP) Program, the TAP has analyzed large language models, vaccine hesitancy, and facial recognition technology in K-12 schools. Funded by UM’s Graham Sustainability Institute and the Sloan Foundation, we are currently studying small modular nuclear reactors.

TAP Publications

  • 2022: What’s in the Chatterbox? Large Language Models, Why They Matter, and What We Should Do About Them,

  • 2021: In Communities We Trust: Institutional Failures and Sustained Solutions for Vaccine Hesitancy

  • 2022: Cameras in the Classroom: Facial Recognition Technology in Schools

Webinar on Cameras in the Classroom: Facial Recognition Technology in Schools

September 2020