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I am CNRS Directrice de Recherche at l’Institut Jean Nicod (CNRS/EHESS/ENS-PSL). I am a specialist in formal semantics, with training in classics (Greek, Latin, Sanskrit, from University of Lausanne, CH), computational linguistics (from IRIT, Toulouse) and logic (CUNY, NY). For nearly fifteen years my research has focused on the distinction between subjective and objective truth, and more specifically on the expression of bias and beliefs in situations of uncertainty. I have spent two year at University of Chicago, where I have initiated the Phronesis programme, which in 2024 was instrumental in developing the HumanitiesPlus international research laboratory (CNRS/Université de Chicago). 

Beginning in 2017, I have applied these theoretical results to mental states and their linguistic expression in my research on hybrid AI. I have notably developed a new methodology to identify and classify urgent information during environmental crises on social media. This methodology was implemented in INTACT (Detecting Intentions, Predicting Actions) software, a technology developed in collaboration with the Toulouse Research Institute in Information Technology. Based on a linguistic model that takes full account of utterances, INTACT offers high potential for application to other types of crises, especially the information-related ones which I am currently studying.

Most of my current research lies in cognitive science, as the locus where human sciences and computational sciences meet. I am interested in how language encodes values and how endorsements of values (including truth) are grounded in evidence. My applied work explores how the connections between evaluativity and proof shapes the public debate on social networks and how the current norms of believability unfold within the democratic debate. 

I work at DEC (Département d'Etudes Cognitives), ENS, where I co-direct the Cognitive AI Team. At Institut Jean Nicod, I am part of the Linguistic Collège and I am the head of the Language, Thought and Behavior's Team. 

Contact: 

alda dot mari usual-sign cnrs dot fr