Nico Ehrhardt

Nico Ehrhardt is a Scientist and Research Associate at the Leibniz-Institut für Wissensmedien (IWM) in Tübingen, Germany, where he is a member of the Everyday Media Lab. He joined the institute on June 1, 2023, and is actively engaged in multiple research projects investigating human-AI interaction, particularly focusing on trust, fairness, and motivational biases in AI decision-making systems.

He holds academic degrees in Molecular Biology from FAU Erlangen and Cognitive Neuroscience from Marburg. Prior to joining IWM, he worked for 14 months at the Center of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, University of Zurich, contributing to neuroimaging studies on multisensory integration in children with developmental language disorders. During his studies, he also served as a tutor and student advisor.

His research focuses on understanding how individuals perceive fairness and trust in AI systems, especially those designed to replace human professionals. He combines theoretical modeling with empirical assessments to identify the psychological and cognitive factors that influence AI acceptance. His work spans disciplines including cognitive science, psychology, AI ethics, and educational technology.

The recent publications reflect a strong trend toward developing and validating tools (like the AIM-FAIR scale) to assess AI fairness, analyzing psychological influences on AI use, and exploring longitudinal dynamics in human-AI interaction. These works demonstrate a consistent focus on real-world applications of AI in decision-making contexts and the subjective human experience of algorithmic systems.

• Scientific Awards: No awards listed.

Nico is currently pursuing his PhD on trust perception in AI expert systems. He is involved in externally funded projects such as Egocentric Biases Meet Biased Algorithms (DFG-funded, 2023–2026) and Better informed or more creative by using ChatGPT? (ongoing). These projects examine how psychological biases interact with algorithmic outputs and how generative AI impacts human cognition and creativity.

He is a core member of the Everyday Media Lab at IWM, which investigates how digital media are integrated into daily life, with a focus on AI, learning, and societal implications. He also collaborates with the Multimodal Interaction, Perception and Action, and Knowledge Construction labs on interdisciplinary projects.