Rethinking Science, Policy
Influence Mapper: A Large Language Model-based Tool to Examine Sponsor Influence in Health Research
About the Seminar
May 13, 2026 9:00am—10:30am
How can federal agencies and policymakers assess the ways in which financial sponsorship shapes the evidence base used to inform regulation, treatment coverage, and public health decision-making? As scientific output grows at an exponential scale, existing oversight tools such as disclosure notices struggle to keep pace with the volume and complexity of potential conflicts of interest in health research. This talk introduces InfluenceMapper, a large language model (LLM)–based tool designed to extract, structure, and analyze disclosure information from scientific publications at scale. The presentation describes the development of the tool and presents empirical findings regarding patterns of sponsorship bias across areas of health research. It also examines how such tools can support agency missions related to research integrity, evidence evaluation, and public trust. The talk concludes by reflecting on the broader opportunities and challenges posed by the use of LLMs and artificial intelligence in science and public policy, including issues of transparency, validation, governance, and responsible deployment to strengthen evidence oversight.
Links
Past Series
-
November 18, 2025 9:00am
Rethinking Measuring and Communicating Societal Impacts
Susanna Campbell
-
October 08, 2025 9:00am
Rethinking the Outcomes of University Research
David Guston
-
September 24, 2025 9:00am
Rethinking the Outcomes of Biomedical Research
Jeffrey Alexander
-
May 20, 2025 9:00am
Rethinking the NIH: Indirect Cost Recovery Policy
Bhaven N. Sampat
-
March 31, 2025 9:00am
Rethinking Taste and Odor in Drinking Water: From Obstacle to Opportunity
Christy Spackman, Susheera Pochiraju
-
March 20, 2025 9:00am
Rethinking Technology Assessment: Policy Signal vs. Noise
John Alic
-
April 24, 2025 9:00am
Rethinking Containment: Deliberately Released Genetically Engineered Organisms
Emma Frow, Dalton George
-
October 03, 2024 3:30pm
Carbon Removal Social [Science]
Holly Buck, Sara Nawaz, Rory Jacobson, Marcela Mulholland, Amanda Borth
-
June 04, 2024 12:00pm
Hopeful Climate Futures through Speculative Storytelling: Decolonizing Global Climate Action
Chinelo Onwualu, Joey Eschrich
