Cody Kommers
Hi, I'm Cody.
I'm originally from Seattle, WA. I currently live in London with my partner, Haily, and our dog, Zora. I've been in England since 2019 and have also lived in Los Angeles, Boston, and Brussels. I'm a cognitive scientist by training. I also write about psychological topics for a general audience. Before I wanted to be a cognitive scientist, I wanted to be a jazz musician.
My training is in computational cognitive science and social psychology. I'm interested in what AI and computational models can teach us about the human mind, and what our understanding of the human can teach us about how to build and deploy AI. I currently work as an Applied Behavioural Scientist at Social Machines. I am building a research program around using LLMs to model human meaning and social interaction in ways that couldn't be done using previous generations of modeling. CV.
Education
Ph.D., Experimental Psychology
2019 - 2022
University of Oxford (Jesus College)
Dissertation: Whom? The effect of target agent of motivation to help, hurt, or understand.
PIs: Matthew Apps, Geoff Bird
B.S., Cognitive Science
2011 - 2015
Univ. of California, Los Angeles (UCLA)
Honors Thesis: Computational models of jazz improvisation inspired by language.
PIs: Jesse Rissman, Alan Yuille
Experience
Applied Behavioural Scientist
2023 - Present
Social Machines Ltd
I currently work at an applied research firm which specializes in how to apply insights from basic research in real-world settings. One project I'm leading looks at how to use cognitive biases to deter cyber attackers. I'm also leading the company's effort in the AI space.
Lab Manager
2016 - 2018
Research Assistant
Spring 2016
Harvard University
Computational Cognitive Neuroscience Lab.
PI: Samuel Gershman.
Université Libre de Bruxelles
Consciousness, Cognition, & Computation Lab.
PI: Axel Cleeremans.
Research Assistant
Summer 2014
USC Institute for Creative Technologies
Cognitive Architecture & Artificial Intelligence Lab.
PI: Paul Rosenbloom.