Elizabeth Mieczkowski
@emiecz.bsky.social
Studying multi-agent collaboration 🤝🧩🤖
PhD Candidate at Princeton CS with Tom Griffiths & Natalia Vélez @cocoscilab.bsky.social @velezcolab.bsky.social
Prev: Cornell CS, MIT BCS
PhD Candidate at Princeton CS with Tom Griffiths & Natalia Vélez @cocoscilab.bsky.social @velezcolab.bsky.social
Prev: Cornell CS, MIT BCS
Pinned
Elizabeth Mieczkowski
@emiecz.bsky.social
· Mar 26
We often assume that specialized roles improve performance in multi-agent systems, but when does specialization emerge based on a given task and environment? 🧵👇
⭐️ New preprint w/ Ruaridh Mon-Williams, @neilbramley.bsky.social, Chris Lucas, @natvelali.bsky.social & @cocoscilab.bsky.social
⭐️ New preprint w/ Ruaridh Mon-Williams, @neilbramley.bsky.social, Chris Lucas, @natvelali.bsky.social & @cocoscilab.bsky.social
Reposted by Elizabeth Mieczkowski
Honored and excited to share that I am the winner of Nomis & Science Young Explorer Award!!
Also thrilled to share that my article describing my research is out now in @science.org today!
The normalization of (almost) everything www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
1/
Also thrilled to share that my article describing my research is out now in @science.org today!
The normalization of (almost) everything www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
1/
The normalization of (almost) everything: Our minds can get used to anything, and even crises start feeling normal
Our minds can get used to anything, and even crises start feeling normal
www.science.org
November 6, 2025 at 9:37 PM
Honored and excited to share that I am the winner of Nomis & Science Young Explorer Award!!
Also thrilled to share that my article describing my research is out now in @science.org today!
The normalization of (almost) everything www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
1/
Also thrilled to share that my article describing my research is out now in @science.org today!
The normalization of (almost) everything www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
1/
Reposted by Elizabeth Mieczkowski
Do AI agents ask good questions? We built “Collaborative Battleship” to find out—and discovered that weaker LMs + Bayesian inference can beat GPT-5 at 1% of the cost.
Paper, code & demos: gabegrand.github.io/battleship
Here's what we learned about building rational information-seeking agents... 🧵🔽
Paper, code & demos: gabegrand.github.io/battleship
Here's what we learned about building rational information-seeking agents... 🧵🔽
October 27, 2025 at 7:17 PM
Do AI agents ask good questions? We built “Collaborative Battleship” to find out—and discovered that weaker LMs + Bayesian inference can beat GPT-5 at 1% of the cost.
Paper, code & demos: gabegrand.github.io/battleship
Here's what we learned about building rational information-seeking agents... 🧵🔽
Paper, code & demos: gabegrand.github.io/battleship
Here's what we learned about building rational information-seeking agents... 🧵🔽
Reposted by Elizabeth Mieczkowski
Honored to contribute a Journal Club piece to @natrevpsychol.nature.com!
I explore Robert White's seminal "competence motivation" framework (1959) and why it remains relevant over 60 years later—from why toddlers insist on doing things themselves to designing intrinsically motivated AI. 🤖
I explore Robert White's seminal "competence motivation" framework (1959) and why it remains relevant over 60 years later—from why toddlers insist on doing things themselves to designing intrinsically motivated AI. 🤖
October 6, 2025 at 2:17 PM
Honored to contribute a Journal Club piece to @natrevpsychol.nature.com!
I explore Robert White's seminal "competence motivation" framework (1959) and why it remains relevant over 60 years later—from why toddlers insist on doing things themselves to designing intrinsically motivated AI. 🤖
I explore Robert White's seminal "competence motivation" framework (1959) and why it remains relevant over 60 years later—from why toddlers insist on doing things themselves to designing intrinsically motivated AI. 🤖
Reposted by Elizabeth Mieczkowski
I'm recruiting grad students!! 🎓
The CoDec Lab @ NYU (codec-lab.github.io) is looking for PhD students (Fall 2026) interested in computational approaches to social cognition & problem solving 🧠
Applications through Psych (tinyurl.com/nyucp) are due Dec 1. Reach out with Qs & please repost! 🙏
The CoDec Lab @ NYU (codec-lab.github.io) is looking for PhD students (Fall 2026) interested in computational approaches to social cognition & problem solving 🧠
Applications through Psych (tinyurl.com/nyucp) are due Dec 1. Reach out with Qs & please repost! 🙏
codec lab
codec-lab.github.io
October 6, 2025 at 2:26 PM
I'm recruiting grad students!! 🎓
The CoDec Lab @ NYU (codec-lab.github.io) is looking for PhD students (Fall 2026) interested in computational approaches to social cognition & problem solving 🧠
Applications through Psych (tinyurl.com/nyucp) are due Dec 1. Reach out with Qs & please repost! 🙏
The CoDec Lab @ NYU (codec-lab.github.io) is looking for PhD students (Fall 2026) interested in computational approaches to social cognition & problem solving 🧠
Applications through Psych (tinyurl.com/nyucp) are due Dec 1. Reach out with Qs & please repost! 🙏
Reposted by Elizabeth Mieczkowski
Forget modeling every belief and goal! What if we represented people as following simple scripts instead (i.e "cross the crosswalk")?
Our new paper shows AI which models others’ minds as Python code 💻 can quickly and accurately predict human behavior!
shorturl.at/siUYI%F0%9F%...
Our new paper shows AI which models others’ minds as Python code 💻 can quickly and accurately predict human behavior!
shorturl.at/siUYI%F0%9F%...
October 3, 2025 at 2:24 AM
Forget modeling every belief and goal! What if we represented people as following simple scripts instead (i.e "cross the crosswalk")?
Our new paper shows AI which models others’ minds as Python code 💻 can quickly and accurately predict human behavior!
shorturl.at/siUYI%F0%9F%...
Our new paper shows AI which models others’ minds as Python code 💻 can quickly and accurately predict human behavior!
shorturl.at/siUYI%F0%9F%...
Reposted by Elizabeth Mieczkowski
Timely reminder that 'associative' language leads lay people to confuse correlation and causation, as @tomerullman.bsky.social and I showed a few years ago.
journals.plos.org/plosone/arti...
Snapshot from the BBC:
www.bbc.com/news/article...
journals.plos.org/plosone/arti...
Snapshot from the BBC:
www.bbc.com/news/article...
September 23, 2025 at 12:51 PM
Timely reminder that 'associative' language leads lay people to confuse correlation and causation, as @tomerullman.bsky.social and I showed a few years ago.
journals.plos.org/plosone/arti...
Snapshot from the BBC:
www.bbc.com/news/article...
journals.plos.org/plosone/arti...
Snapshot from the BBC:
www.bbc.com/news/article...
Reposted by Elizabeth Mieczkowski
Can large language models stand in for human participants?
Many social scientists seem to think so, and are already using "silicon samples" in research.
One problem: depending on the analytic decisions made, you can basically get these samples to show any effect you want.
THREAD 🧵
Many social scientists seem to think so, and are already using "silicon samples" in research.
One problem: depending on the analytic decisions made, you can basically get these samples to show any effect you want.
THREAD 🧵
The threat of analytic flexibility in using large language models to simulate human data: A call to attention
Social scientists are now using large language models to create "silicon samples" - synthetic datasets intended to stand in for human respondents, aimed at revolutionising human subjects research. How...
arxiv.org
September 18, 2025 at 7:56 AM
Can large language models stand in for human participants?
Many social scientists seem to think so, and are already using "silicon samples" in research.
One problem: depending on the analytic decisions made, you can basically get these samples to show any effect you want.
THREAD 🧵
Many social scientists seem to think so, and are already using "silicon samples" in research.
One problem: depending on the analytic decisions made, you can basically get these samples to show any effect you want.
THREAD 🧵
Reposted by Elizabeth Mieczkowski
Our new lab for Human & Machine Intelligence is officially open at Princeton University!
Consider applying for a PhD or Postdoc position, either through Computer Science or Psychology. You can register interest on our new website lake-lab.github.io (1/2)
Consider applying for a PhD or Postdoc position, either through Computer Science or Psychology. You can register interest on our new website lake-lab.github.io (1/2)
September 8, 2025 at 1:59 PM
Our new lab for Human & Machine Intelligence is officially open at Princeton University!
Consider applying for a PhD or Postdoc position, either through Computer Science or Psychology. You can register interest on our new website lake-lab.github.io (1/2)
Consider applying for a PhD or Postdoc position, either through Computer Science or Psychology. You can register interest on our new website lake-lab.github.io (1/2)
Bonan's energy and excitement for CogSci are truly unmatched 🤩 Apply!
My Lab at the University of Edinburgh🇬🇧 has funded PhD positions for this cycle!
We study the computational principles of how people learn, reason, and communicate.
It's a new lab, and you will be playing a big role in shaping its culture and foundations.
Spread the words!
We study the computational principles of how people learn, reason, and communicate.
It's a new lab, and you will be playing a big role in shaping its culture and foundations.
Spread the words!
August 18, 2025 at 1:57 PM
Bonan's energy and excitement for CogSci are truly unmatched 🤩 Apply!
Reposted by Elizabeth Mieczkowski
The CoLab is headed to #CogSci2025!! 🥳 Here's where to find us!
July 29, 2025 at 5:15 PM
The CoLab is headed to #CogSci2025!! 🥳 Here's where to find us!
Really exciting step toward AI-informed policy design! Nice work @sethkarten.ai 🙌
🚀 New preprint!
🤔 Can one agent “nudge” a synthetic civilization of Census‑grounded agents toward higher social welfare—all by optimizing utilities in‑context? Meet the LLM Economist ↓
🤔 Can one agent “nudge” a synthetic civilization of Census‑grounded agents toward higher social welfare—all by optimizing utilities in‑context? Meet the LLM Economist ↓
July 24, 2025 at 1:09 PM
Really exciting step toward AI-informed policy design! Nice work @sethkarten.ai 🙌
Reposted by Elizabeth Mieczkowski
Our latest on the cognitive science of LLMs! To be presented @CogSci2025 🎉
LLMs are increasingly involved in human collaborations. How do LLMs assign responsibility and reward to collaborators? Is it similar to how humans do it? 🤖🧑
📃 gershmanlab.com/pubs/XiangBi... (1/4)
LLMs are increasingly involved in human collaborations. How do LLMs assign responsibility and reward to collaborators? Is it similar to how humans do it? 🤖🧑
📃 gershmanlab.com/pubs/XiangBi... (1/4)
July 24, 2025 at 12:19 AM
Our latest on the cognitive science of LLMs! To be presented @CogSci2025 🎉
LLMs are increasingly involved in human collaborations. How do LLMs assign responsibility and reward to collaborators? Is it similar to how humans do it? 🤖🧑
📃 gershmanlab.com/pubs/XiangBi... (1/4)
LLMs are increasingly involved in human collaborations. How do LLMs assign responsibility and reward to collaborators? Is it similar to how humans do it? 🤖🧑
📃 gershmanlab.com/pubs/XiangBi... (1/4)
I've learned so much working with Rachit! Highly recommend joining his lab 👏
Headed to #CogSci2025 next week!
Interested in computational cognitive science applied to climate change and real-world policy? Come find me!
My lab at UCLA is recruiting 1–2 fully funded PhD students.
We work on:
• decision-making
• climate perception
• human–AI collaboration for policy design
Interested in computational cognitive science applied to climate change and real-world policy? Come find me!
My lab at UCLA is recruiting 1–2 fully funded PhD students.
We work on:
• decision-making
• climate perception
• human–AI collaboration for policy design
July 23, 2025 at 6:05 PM
I've learned so much working with Rachit! Highly recommend joining his lab 👏
Reposted by Elizabeth Mieczkowski
Our new paper is out in PNAS: "Evolving general cooperation with a Bayesian theory of mind"!
Humans are the ultimate cooperators. We coordinate on a scale and scope no other species (nor AI) can match. What makes this possible? 🧵
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
Humans are the ultimate cooperators. We coordinate on a scale and scope no other species (nor AI) can match. What makes this possible? 🧵
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
Evolving general cooperation with a Bayesian theory of mind | PNAS
Theories of the evolution of cooperation through reciprocity explain how unrelated
self-interested individuals can accomplish more together than th...
www.pnas.org
July 22, 2025 at 6:04 AM
Our new paper is out in PNAS: "Evolving general cooperation with a Bayesian theory of mind"!
Humans are the ultimate cooperators. We coordinate on a scale and scope no other species (nor AI) can match. What makes this possible? 🧵
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
Humans are the ultimate cooperators. We coordinate on a scale and scope no other species (nor AI) can match. What makes this possible? 🧵
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
Reposted by Elizabeth Mieczkowski
"We introduce Collaborative Rational Speech Act (CRSA), an information-theoretic (IT) extension of RSA that models multi-turn dialog by optimizing a gain function adapted from rate-distortion theory."
arxiv.org/abs/2507.14063
arxiv.org/abs/2507.14063
Collaborative Rational Speech Act: Pragmatic Reasoning for Multi-Turn Dialog
As AI systems take on collaborative roles, they must reason about shared goals and beliefs-not just generate fluent language. The Rational Speech Act (RSA) framework offers a principled approach to pr...
arxiv.org
July 21, 2025 at 1:29 PM
"We introduce Collaborative Rational Speech Act (CRSA), an information-theoretic (IT) extension of RSA that models multi-turn dialog by optimizing a gain function adapted from rate-distortion theory."
arxiv.org/abs/2507.14063
arxiv.org/abs/2507.14063
So excited our paper is now out in @cognitionjournal.bsky.social! Huge thanks to our editor and reviewers 🧠 Their thoughtful suggestions inspired Experiments 3 & 4, including a striking inverse correlation between idleness judgments and speed-up predictions
“People Evaluate Idle Collaborators Based on their Impact on Task Efficiency”
📢 New paper from: Elizabeth Mieczkowski, Cameron Rouse Turner, Natalia Vélez, & Tom Griffiths
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
TL;DR: Sometimes it's acceptable not to help with group work 🧵👇
📢 New paper from: Elizabeth Mieczkowski, Cameron Rouse Turner, Natalia Vélez, & Tom Griffiths
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
TL;DR: Sometimes it's acceptable not to help with group work 🧵👇
July 18, 2025 at 5:10 PM
So excited our paper is now out in @cognitionjournal.bsky.social! Huge thanks to our editor and reviewers 🧠 Their thoughtful suggestions inspired Experiments 3 & 4, including a striking inverse correlation between idleness judgments and speed-up predictions
Reposted by Elizabeth Mieczkowski
New published paper with Ham Huang and @actlab.bsky.social! @cognitionjournal.bsky.social
authors.elsevier.com/sd/article/S...
authors.elsevier.com/sd/article/S...
July 11, 2025 at 11:51 PM
New published paper with Ham Huang and @actlab.bsky.social! @cognitionjournal.bsky.social
authors.elsevier.com/sd/article/S...
authors.elsevier.com/sd/article/S...
Reposted by Elizabeth Mieczkowski
How to cooperate for a sustainable future? We don't know (yet), but I'm thrilled to share that our new perspective piece has just been published in @pnas.org. Bridging complexity science and multiagent reinforcement learning can lead to a much-needed science of collective, cooperative intelligence.
June 17, 2025 at 10:29 AM
How to cooperate for a sustainable future? We don't know (yet), but I'm thrilled to share that our new perspective piece has just been published in @pnas.org. Bridging complexity science and multiagent reinforcement learning can lead to a much-needed science of collective, cooperative intelligence.
Excited to share our findings on prediction in the brain’s "physics network" 🧠 Honored to have contributed to this work, & huge kudos to @rtpramod.bsky.social for leading the project!
Thrilled to announce our new publication titled 'Decoding predicted future states from the brain's physics engine' with @emiecz.bsky.social, Cyn X. Fang, @nancykanwisher.bsky.social, @joshtenenbaum.bsky.social
www.science.org/doi/full/10....
(1/n)
www.science.org/doi/full/10....
(1/n)
Decoding predicted future states from the brain’s “physics engine”
Using fMRI in humans, this study provides evidence for future state prediction in brain regions involved in physical reasoning.
www.science.org
June 17, 2025 at 7:17 PM
Excited to share our findings on prediction in the brain’s "physics network" 🧠 Honored to have contributed to this work, & huge kudos to @rtpramod.bsky.social for leading the project!
Reposted by Elizabeth Mieczkowski
Across 9 experiments (+6600 participants), we explored a paradox: How do non-experts judge scientific explanations they can’t fully understand? We found that scientific jargon can increase people’s satisfaction with explanations, even though it makes them less comprehensible.
2/9
2/9
June 12, 2025 at 9:27 AM
Across 9 experiments (+6600 participants), we explored a paradox: How do non-experts judge scientific explanations they can’t fully understand? We found that scientific jargon can increase people’s satisfaction with explanations, even though it makes them less comprehensible.
2/9
2/9
Reposted by Elizabeth Mieczkowski
A lot of people say generative AI shouldn't infringe on copyright. These researchers actually tried to do it. The result: an 8 terabyte dataset of text that's openly licensed or in the public domain & 7 B parameter model that performs as well as Meta's Llama 7B www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...
Analysis | AI firms say they can’t respect copyright. These researchers tried.
A new effort using only openly licensed data may have implications on thorny policy disputes around copyright and AI
www.washingtonpost.com
June 5, 2025 at 5:44 PM
A lot of people say generative AI shouldn't infringe on copyright. These researchers actually tried to do it. The result: an 8 terabyte dataset of text that's openly licensed or in the public domain & 7 B parameter model that performs as well as Meta's Llama 7B www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...
Reposted by Elizabeth Mieczkowski
Out now in TiCS, something i've been thinking about a lot:
"Physics vs. graphics as an organizing dichotomy in cognition"
(by Balaban & me)
relevant for many people, related to imagination, intuitive physics, mental simulation, aphantasia, and more
authors.elsevier.com/a/1lBaC4sIRv...
"Physics vs. graphics as an organizing dichotomy in cognition"
(by Balaban & me)
relevant for many people, related to imagination, intuitive physics, mental simulation, aphantasia, and more
authors.elsevier.com/a/1lBaC4sIRv...
June 2, 2025 at 12:51 PM
Out now in TiCS, something i've been thinking about a lot:
"Physics vs. graphics as an organizing dichotomy in cognition"
(by Balaban & me)
relevant for many people, related to imagination, intuitive physics, mental simulation, aphantasia, and more
authors.elsevier.com/a/1lBaC4sIRv...
"Physics vs. graphics as an organizing dichotomy in cognition"
(by Balaban & me)
relevant for many people, related to imagination, intuitive physics, mental simulation, aphantasia, and more
authors.elsevier.com/a/1lBaC4sIRv...
Reposted by Elizabeth Mieczkowski
Are you an RL PhD at Harvard who has had your funding wrecked by the government and working on topics related to multi-agent? Reach out, I am happy to try to find a way to support you.
May 23, 2025 at 12:30 AM
Are you an RL PhD at Harvard who has had your funding wrecked by the government and working on topics related to multi-agent? Reach out, I am happy to try to find a way to support you.
Reposted by Elizabeth Mieczkowski
We are recruiting two postdoctoral scholars for a research project in human collective intelligence and creativity at UC Davis and Cornell. Joint project with @enfascination.com, @norijacoby.bsky.social, @oferon.bsky.social & Dalton Conley. Please forward this thread to relevant people. 1/n
April 29, 2025 at 2:46 AM
We are recruiting two postdoctoral scholars for a research project in human collective intelligence and creativity at UC Davis and Cornell. Joint project with @enfascination.com, @norijacoby.bsky.social, @oferon.bsky.social & Dalton Conley. Please forward this thread to relevant people. 1/n