Beth Michelle Semel

Beth Michelle Semel is an Assistant Professor of Anthropology at Princeton University and holds the Richard Stockton Bicentennial Preceptor position (2025-2028). Her office is located in 126 Aaron Burr Hall, and she maintains affiliations with multiple research entities including the History of Science Program, Program in Cognitive Science, Center for Health and Wellbeing, Princeton Language and Intelligence (PLI), and Natural and Artificial Minds initiative.

Dr. Semel's research examines the sensory politics of AI in mental healthcare, specifically:

• Machine listening technologies for detecting mental distress via voice analysis
• Ethical implications of AI in psychiatry and data labor practices
• Intersections of language, disability, race, and gender in tech-driven care systems
• Surveillance infrastructures within computational health diagnostics

Her work critically analyzes how AI pipelines reshape human listening practices and perpetuate or challenge systemic biases.

Significant recognitions include:

• Princeton AI Lab Seed Grant (2025): Funding for the workshop 'The Future of (Data) Work: Trust, Safety, and Alignment From Within the LLM Pipeline' examining ethics in AI data labor
• Richard Stockton Bicentennial Preceptorship: A prestigious 3-year appointment recognizing scholarly excellence

Dr. Semel leads initiatives investigating the human impacts of AI production pipelines and maintains collaborative ties across computer science and health policy domains at Princeton.