Tech for Open Minds (TOM) aims to advance interdisciplinary training on the complex relationship between digital technology and open-mindedness and to identify new ways to counter polarization worldwide. TOM, a global initiative under the Summer Institutes in Computational Social Science (SICSS), trains researchers and incubates interdisciplinary solutions to the problem of polarization by studying how technologies like social media, AI, and algorithms impact open-mindedness, intellectual humility, and polarization and depolarization.

Led by Chris Bail of the Sanford School of Public Policy at Duke University and the Society Centered AI initiative there, the project will address gaps in understanding how technology influences polarization and character virtues. While early optimism positioned digital tools as bridges for social cohesion, evidence now highlights risks like misinformation, echo chambers, and affective polarization. Yet emerging studies suggest AI could foster constructive dialogue. TOM explores these contradictions through cross-disciplinary, cross-national research and training, with an emphasis on understudied regions beyond the US.

The project will include:

• Global Training Institutes: Eleven annual in-person events in diverse locations (e.g., Brazil, Nigeria, Poland), adapting SICSS’s open-source curriculum to local contexts, focusing on digital polarization and character virtues. Each institute will investigate a context-specific research question aligned with TOM’s aims.
• Annual Conference at Duke: A three-day event featuring global experts will generate cutting-edge lectures and educational content. High-quality videos and interviews will enrich the curriculum.
• Open-Source Curriculum: Modular resources (videos, datasets, coding tutorials) will be expanded with global contributions, emphasizing methods to measure and cultivate open-mindedness in digital spaces.

TOM builds on SICSS’s model, which has trained 3,100+ participants from 700+ institutions since 2017. The initiative prioritizes diversity and supports under-resourced institutions through free training and localized content. It integrates psychology, philosophy, and ethics into computational social science and emphasizes global representation—focusing on multi-party democracies and regions with historical divides (ethnic, religious) to broaden research beyond US-centric models.