Business, AI, and Democracy (BAID)

About BAID

"Why is democracy more fragile today than a decade ago? What are the consequences of media consolidation? How does AI impact these areas?"

BAID Voting

Democracy is widely believed to be necessary for the sustainability of markets and market reforms that encourage investment and innovation.

Surprisingly then, as political polling shows, democracies are living in a moment of crisis. Business is not isolated from these trends. This initiative will explore the impact of social and traditional media, government regulation, misinformation, and new and emerging technologies on democracy.

Initiative Leadership

Led by Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. Professor of Leadership and Ethics Bruce Kogut, in collaboration with CBS faculty, including Professors Ann Bartel, Gita Johar, Andrea Prat, Andrey Simonov, and external members like Professor Mario Small and Provost and Professor Sergei Guriev, BAID will conduct academic-quality studies and advocacy to stimulate public debate and exchange ideas to strengthen democracies.

Ann Bartel

Merrill Lynch Professor of Workforce Transformation, Economics Division

Decisionmaking & Negotiations Faculty

Competitive Strategy Affiliated Faculty

Vice Dean for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, Dean’s Office

Ann Bartel

Merrill Lynch Professor of Workforce Transformation, Economics Division

Decisionmaking & Negotiations Faculty

Competitive Strategy Affiliated Faculty

Vice Dean for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, Dean’s Office

Professor Bartel is the Merrill Lynch Professor of Workforce Transformation at Columbia Business School and the Director of Columbia Business School's Workforce Transformation Initiative. She is an expert in the fields of labor economics and human resource management and has published numerous articles on employee training, human capital investments, job mobility, and the impact of technological change on productivity, worker skills, and outsourcing decisions. Bartel received the 1992 Margaret Chandler Award for Commitment to Excellence in teaching.

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Gita Johar

Meyer Feldberg Professor of Business , Marketing Division

Decisionmaking & Negotiations Faculty

Gita V. Johar (PhD NYU 1993; MBA Indian Institute of Management Calcutta 1985) has been on the faculty of Columbia Business School since 1992 and is currently the Meyer Feldberg Professor of Business. She served as the school’s inaugural Vice Dean for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion from 2019 to 2021, Faculty Director of Online Initiatives from 2014 to 2017, Senior Vice Dean from 2011 to 2014, and as the inaugural Vice Dean for Research from 2010 to 2011.

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Bruce Kogut

Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. Professor of Leadership and Ethics, Management Division

Competitive Strategy Affiliated Faculty

Bruce Kogut is the Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. Professor of Leadership and Ethics at Columbia Business School. He teaches courses on Governance, Governance and Ethics, and Business Strategies and Solving Social Problems. He has taught in executive programs in the US, Europe, and China.

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Andrea Prat

Richard Paul Richman Professor of Business, Economics Division

Competitive Strategy Affiliated Faculty

Andrea Prat is the Richard Paul Richman Professor of Business at Columbia Business School and Professor of Economics at the Department of Economics, Columbia University. After receiving his PhD in Economics from Stanford University in 1997, he taught at Tilburg University and the London School of Economics. He joined Columbia in 2012.

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Andrey Simonov

Gary Winnick and Martin Granoff Associate Professor of Business, Marketing Division

Andrey Simonov is an Associate Professor of Marketing at Columbia Business School. His research covers various topics related to the marketing and economics of media products, such as measuring advertising effectiveness, media persuasion, product design, and competition in media and digital product markets. Andrey’s papers have been published in top academic journals including Marketing Science, Journal of Marketing Research, Quantitative Marketing and Economics, and Journal of Political Economy, and have received multiple awards and grants. Before joining Columbia, Andrey got a Ph.D.

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