INFORMS Releases

CATONSVILLE, MD, October 22, 2021 – Cynthia Rudin has been named the recipient of the Squirrel AI Award for Artificial Intelligence for the Benefit of Humanity from the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence (AAAI).

CATONSVILLE, MD, October 18, 2021 – In a world where false news spreads easily and rapidly, and institutional trust is declining, the imperative for local newspapers to serve as reliable sources of news is more important than ever. Like any business, however, finding strong and sustainable revenue is foundational to their mission. For news organizations, subscription revenue is increasingly important to newspapers as advertising revenue continues to decline. Paywalls can increase subscription revenue by helping newspapers not only acquire new subscribers but also retain existing ones. New research in the INFORMS journal Management Science shows that newspapers’ strategy of offering subscribers free access to digital content increases subscriber retention and boosts revenue by as much as 7-12%.

CATONSVILLE, MD, October 14, 2021 – New research in the INFORMS journal Management Science finds that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) could enhance public safety by employing new, robust data-driven approaches to identify adverse effects of drugs faster and more reliably, which would improve the regulatory decision-making and oversight processes. This approach would substantially contrast with the current FDA approaches for monitoring drug safety, which suffers major drawbacks, e.g., that they are based on voluntary reports that can result in inaccurate or untimely decisions. 

CATONSVILLE, MD, October 12, 2021 – Airbnb created a free, smart-pricing tool for its Airbnb hosts. But the tool meant to promote racial equality has done little to solve the problem. New research in the INFORMS journal Marketing Science finds the algorithm’s price recommendations are not affected by the host’s race, but rather the tool’s race blindness has resulted in unintended consequences that may lead to suboptimal pricing for Black hosts.

CATONSVILLE, MD, October 7, 2021 – The current gap between workforce supply and employer demand has led to a rise in wages, particularly among low-skilled positions in the service and hospitality industries. Competition for workers is increasing as the busy holiday season approaches.