Postdoctoral Fellow – Costello Lab – Dietrich College

Carnegie Mellon University • Pittsburgh, PA

20h • Onsite

About The Position

Carnegie Mellon University, in collaboration with FAR.AI and Cornell University, is seeking a postdoctoral researcher for a one-year appointment (with the possibility of extension) in Dietrich College. The position has a flexible start date, though early summer 2026 is preferred. The postdoctoral fellow will work closely with Thomas Costello (CMU), Kellin Pelrine (FAR.AI), Gordon Pennycook (Cornell), and David Rand (Cornell). In addition to being a core member of the research team, the fellow will be embedded within the FAR.AI research community, providing direct access to technical AI safety expertise and a broader interdisciplinary network. This position builds on our recent work demonstrating that large language models (LLMs) can meaningfully influence human beliefs — including shifting political attitudes, reducing belief in conspiracy theories, and, more recently, increasing belief in them. The research sits at the intersection of AI safety and behavioral science, examining both the persuasive capabilities of AI systems and the risks they pose to the information ecosystem. Adaptability, excellence, and passion are vital qualities within Carnegie Mellon University. We are in search of a team member who can effectively interact with a varied population of internal and external partners at a high level of integrity. We are looking for someone who shares our values and who will support the mission of the university through their work. You should demonstrate: We're open to candidates from technical/computational backgrounds (ML, NLP, AI safety, working with LLMs) as well as computational social scientists. The ideal candidate bridges these worlds or is eager to learn across them. A combination of education and relevant experience from which comparable knowledge is demonstrated may be considered.

Requirements

• PhD required or must be obtained by start date
• Applicants for this position must be currently legally authorized to work for CMU in the United States. We will not sponsor or take over the sponsorship of an employment visa for this opportunity.
• Carnegie Mellon is not a qualifying employer for the STEM OPT benefit: only the 12-month OPT may be used to work at Carnegie Mellon.

Nice To Haves

• Working with large language models (fine-tuning, prompting, evaluation)
• Online/lab experiments on belief change and persuasion
• Building user-facing tools or running interventions at scale
• AI safety research (especially related to deception, manipulation, or evaluation)
• Computational text analysis, web development, or working with social media data.
• If you're excited about AI persuasion risks, human-AI interaction, misinformation, or AI safety more broadly, please apply regardless of your specific background.

Responsibilities

• Advancing research on the risks of AI-driven persuasion within the information ecosystem and developing tools that translate this work into meaningful real-world impact. This includes building scalable interventions in the spirit of our debunking platform, debunkbot.com, which has facilitated more than 120,000 conversations.
• Designing and running experiments to examine how AI systems shape human beliefs; developing rigorous methods to evaluate and mitigate persuasive risks; and creating interventions capable of operating at scale.
• Serving as a core member of the Viewpoints Lab at Carnegie Mellon University, with strong ties to the Rand/Pennycook research network at Cornell University and collaborators at FAR.AI.
• Other duties as assigned

Benefits

• Joining the CMU team opens the door to an array of exceptional benefits. Benefits eligible employees enjoy a wide array of benefits including comprehensive medical, prescription, dental, and vision insurance as well as a generous retirement savings program with employer contributions.
• Unlock your potential with tuition benefits , take well-deserved breaks with ample paid time off and observed holidays , and rest easy with life and accidental death and disability insurance.
• Additional perks include a free Pittsburgh Regional Transit bus pass, access to our Family Concierge Team to help navigate childcare needs, fitness center access , and much more!
• For a comprehensive overview of the benefits available, explore our Benefits page .

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Entry Level
• Education Level: Ph.D. or professional degree