Hybrid Collectives Lab

Collective dynamics in human–machine systems

HC stands for Hybrid Collectives, the human–machine groups we study. Any resemblance to the initials of the lab’s founder, Hao Cui, is purely coincidental ;)

About the lab

The Hybrid Collectives Lab (HC Lab) studies how collective attention, belief, and knowledge emerge and evolve when humans, algorithms, and AI interact, from social media platforms and online encyclopedias to workplaces and opinion networks. As algorithms and AI take on new roles in social life, we ask how these hybrid collectives form and change, and what they mean for the societies around them.

Research themes

Information ecosystems

Algorithmic curation, misinformation, AI-generated knowledge

How do algorithms and AI change what information is seen, checked, and written?

Work and organisations

AI managers, human–AI teamwork, workplace AI use

How does AI change the ways people work together, make decisions, and respond to authority?

Collective behaviour and social influence

AI agents, opinion formation, collective beliefs

How do AI agents reshape social influence and emergent collective behaviour?

Approach

  • Digital trace data
  • Behavioural experiments
  • Computational modelling
  • Network science

People

Hao Cui

Founder and lab lead

Join us

Open positions

There are no open positions at the moment. Future openings for PhD students, postdocs, and research assistants will be posted here.

Contact

We welcome students and collaborators interested in human–machine collectives, information ecosystems, or computational social science to get in touch.