Chelsea Allen ’27 combined her passion for technology with her interest in history and psychology for a Student Directed Project focused on AI. The end result is “Bias Beacon,” an AI agent that can assist with research, identify blindspots, and check for bias.
[Bias Beacon] is for anyone that needs help with research, specifically on controversial topics. You can use this tool to find information while also highlighting what biases may exist.
Chelsea Allen 27
Bias Beacon allowed Chelsea to synthesize a variety of experiences on and off campus. “I’ve always liked technology,” she shares. “I’ve been taking coding classes since second grade.” This interest deepened after a summer at Harvard MedScience, where Chelsea learned how AI models are built and utilized. Eager to leverage that knowledge to explore new topics, she found inspiration from her psychology and history courses at Beaver, specifically topics such as algorithms, confirmation bias, and echo chambers. She designed Bias Beacon to address these issues and more.
I really like technology, and I’ve never thought about it in the context of history; I thought they were complete polar opposites. I think finding ways that different fields intersect is always where the most interesting ideas come from.
Chelsea Allen '27
During what she describes as the “trial and edits” phase of the project, Chelsea tested the AI agent with a group of teachers and peers. “It was definitely scary, because I didn’t know if it would work,” she says. “But it did work and it was really interesting to hear from them.” After continuing to iterate upon the AI assistant, Bias Beacon was made available as a resource. You can test it out for yourself here!