Undergraduate Spotlight: Isabella Jordan

Isabella Jordan is a bachelor’s and master’s student in computer science. During her time at Stanford, she’s spent time being a research assistant at the Law school, co-founding the Cardinal Policy Group, and serving as the development coordinator for Camp Kesem. In terms of experience outside of school, she worked one summer for a machine learning healthcare startup and her past two summers interning as a software engineer at Google. Outside of school, Isabella loves to play soccer, run, and spend time with friends.

Why did you choose to participate in the Honors Program in Ethics in Society?

I decided to participate in the Honors Program in Ethics in Society ultimately due to a course I took during my freshman year, Computer Science 182, which focused on the intersection of ethics, public policy, and technology. This course ended up being the reason I chose to study computer science, as I felt so passionate about working in this complex intersection of technology and ethics. I decided to participate in the Honors Program so that I could further explore this area with an emphasis on ethics. I also underwent a senior honors independent study in high school that grappled with questions of morality, and because I had such a wonderful experience, I wanted to be able to write a thesis in a similar manner at Stanford. 

What was the most rewarding aspect of your experience in the Honors Program?

During my time in the program, I was able to interview and talk to many inspiring, accomplished individuals on and off campus. From Hoover Institute fellows to HAI members, even my advisor Mehran Sahimi, I was able to have insightful and intellectual discussions with experts in the area of the work I was doing. I truly felt honored and privileged to have the opportunity to learn so much from people who are so well accomplished and knowledgeable in the area I am personally very interested in. I will always be very grateful for these conversations and experiences. 

In a few sentences, describe your honors thesis research.

My thesis is framed around the issue of misinformation being exacerbated by generative artificial intelligence in the United States and how it might affect American political elections. Understanding the misinformation issue that is catalyzed by recent developments in generative artificial intelligence, I hope to look into ethical solutions to mitigate the risk of harm to American democracy in this new digital frontier. I do so by using other countries as case studies, looking at how they have regulated content and restricted freedom of speech in order to promote national safety and security. Ultimately, I hope to propose measures the United States could undertake to moderate content under an ethical framework.

What opportunities would you like to pursue within the next five years?

My ideal future would be working in the responsible innovation sector within big tech. I am very passionate about regulating new technology, especially artificial intelligence, to ensure it promotes equality and justice, considering the significant ability of technology to worsen inequality. More specifically, I would love to be a leader in tech regulation and ethics. Considering that many of these problems do not have clear solutions, as a woman of color, I want to be a stakeholder and advocate for minorities when answers to these complex problems are discussed and developed.