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Nicholas Diakopoulos

Nicholas Diakopoulos

· Professor

Northwestern University · Communication Studies

Active 2004–2026

h-index38
Citations6.8k
Papers15870 last 5y
Funding$1.1M

Academic metrics are sourced from OpenAlex and public funding records; values may differ from Google Scholar.

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About

Nicholas Diakopoulos is a professor in Communication Studies and Computer Science (by courtesy) at Northwestern University. He directs the Computational Journalism Lab and serves as the director of Graduate Studies for the Technology and Social Behavior PhD program. His research focuses on computational journalism, including aspects of automation and algorithms in news production, algorithmic accountability and transparency, and social media in news contexts. He is the author of the award-winning book, Automating the News: How Algorithms are Rewriting the Media, published by Harvard University Press. Diakopoulos received his Ph.D. and M.S. degrees in Computer Science from the School of Interactive Computing at the Georgia Institute of Technology, and his Sc.B. degree in Computer Engineering from Brown University.

Research topics

  • Political Science
  • Sociology
  • Computer Science
  • Media studies
  • Public relations
  • Artificial Intelligence
  • Social Science
  • Data Mining
  • Law
  • Psychology

Selected publications

  • Anticipating and addressing the ethical implications of deepfakes in the context of elections

    New Media & Society · 2020 · 160 citations

    1st authorCorresponding

    New media synthesis technologies are rapidly advancing and becoming more accessible, allowing users to make video and audio clips (i.e. deepfakes) of individuals doing and saying things they never did or said. Deepfakes have significant implications for the integrity of many social domains including that of elections. Focusing on the 2020 US presidential election and using an anticipatory approach, this article examines the ethical issues raised by deepfakes and discusses strategies for addressi…

    DOI

  • ChatGPT and the AI Act

    Internet Policy Review · 2023 · 137 citations

    Senior authorCorresponding

    It is not easy being a tech regulator these days. The European institutions are working hard towards finalising the AI Act in autumn, and then generative AI systems like ChatGPT come along! In this essay, we comment the European AI Act by arguing that its current risk-based approach is too limited for facing ChatGPT & co.

    DOI

  • The Data Journalism Handbook

    Amsterdam University Press eBooks · 2021 · 14 citations

    The Data Journalism Handbook: Towards a Critical Data Practice provides a rich and panoramic introduction to data journalism, combining both critical reflection and practical insight. It offers a diverse collection of perspectives on how data journalism is done around the world and the broader consequences of datafication in the news, serving as both a textbook and a sourcebook for this emerging field. With more than 50 chapters from leading researchers and practitioners of data journalism, it e…

    DOI

  • Values as Problems, Principles, and Tensions in Sociotechnical System Design for Journalism

    2025-07-04 · 5 citations

    articleOpen accessSenior author

    Through a systematic review of design contributions in journalism, this work examines how domain-specific values shape sociotechnical systems for newswork.We illustrate the different ways in which values define design problems and act as guiding principles for solutions.For instance, the value "accountability" functions as both a design problem (how to support journalists in accountability reporting) and as a guiding principle (features to ensure that systems remain accountable to users).Our ana…

    PublisherOA PDFDOI

  • Envisioning Stakeholder-Action Pairs to Mitigate Negative Impacts of AI: A Participatory Approach to Inform Policy Making

    2025-06-23 · 4 citations

    articleOpen accessSenior author

    The potential for negative impacts of AI has rapidly become more pervasive around the world, and this has intensified a need for responsible AI governance. While many regulatory bodies endorse risk-based approaches and a multitude of risk mitigation practices are proposed by companies and academic scholars, these approaches are commonly expert-centered and thus lack the inclusion of a significant group of stakeholders. Ensuring that AI policies align with democratic expectations requires methods…

    PublisherOA PDFDOI

Recent grants

Frequent coauthors

  • Caelainn Barr

    King's College London

    14 shared

  • Jonathan Stray

    14 shared

  • Aaron M. Williams

    Vanderbilt University Medical Center

    14 shared

  • Aika Rey

    University of California, Berkeley

    13 shared

  • Mary Lynn Young

    Allegheny General Hospital

    13 shared

  • Raúl Alejandro Luna Sánchez

    Universidad Veracruzana

    13 shared

  • Liliana Bounegru

    13 shared

  • Pınar Dağ

    13 shared

Education

  • Ph.D., Communication

    Carnegie Mellon University

    2013

  • M.S., Communication

    Carnegie Mellon University

    2009

  • B.A., Political Science

    University of California, Berkeley

    2006

Awards & honors

  • author of the award-winning book, Automating the News: How A…

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