MIT Distinguished Speaker Series: Algorithms, Data, and Digital Platforms

Join Prof. Alessandro Bonatti to explore how digital platforms, ads, and AI use consumer data to shape market prices, privacy, and choices. About the Talk Join Professor Alessandro Bonatti for a deep dive into the intersection of algorithms, data, and digital platforms. This session unveils how automated ad auctions and data-driven targeting impact what consumers see and pay. Prof. Bonatti will also address critical implications for market competition, consumer privacy, and the emerging role of sponsored content within AI platforms. About the Speaker Alessandro Bonatti is the John Norris Maguire (1960) Professor of Applied Economics at the MIT Sloan School of Management. Alessandro is an applied microeconomic theorist working at the intersection of game theory and industrial organization. His research studies the dynamics of incentives in organizations, nonlinear and dynamic pricing strategies, and the economics of digital markets. His most recent work focuses on markets for data, and on the optimal use of data for pricing and personalized advertising by platforms and firms. He also researches the effects of data on user privacy, examining the tradeoffs between privacy concerns and the benefits associated with firms having a more precise understanding of consumer preferences. Alessandro currently serves as coeditor for the American Economic Journal: Microeconomics and as associate editor for the Quarterly Journal of Economics.