I am a lecturer in trustworthy computer systems at the University of Stirling. I have previously held positions as a lecturer in computer science at Edinburgh Napier University, and as a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Lausanne and the University of Bath. I obtained my PhD in 2010 from the University of Southampton.
I am an associate editor for IEEE Technology and Society Magazine, and Adaptive Behavior.
I am an interdisciplinary researcher working at the interface of computer science and the social and behavioural sciences (economics, evolutionary biology and psychology). My research has two main themes. The first is understanding human social behaviours such as cooperation and trust, using computational techniques including agent-based modelling and game theory. My work has explored how humans managed to grow cooperation and trust from small hunter-gatherer groups, where everyone knew each other around the campfire, to modern societies with millions of people where we sometimes trust strangers we will never meet again. The second theme of my research aims to take this understanding and apply it to examine the factors affecting trust between people and artificial intelligence (AI). How similar is trust between people and an AI system to trust between people and a company, for example? What types of regulations are likely to ensure that developers are incentivised to build trustworthy AI, and people in turn place warranted trust in these systems? I aim to answer these questions using computational modelling and behavioural experiments.
Article
Trust AI regulation? Discerning users are vital to build trust and effective AI regulation
Alalawi Z, Bova P, Cimpeanu T, Di Stefano A, Hong Duong M, Domingos EF, Han TA, Krellner M, Ogbo NB, Powers ST & Zimmaro F (2026) Trust AI regulation? Discerning users are vital to build trust and effective AI regulation. Applied Mathematics and Computation, 508, p. 129627. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.amc.2025.129627
Article
What's It Like To Trust An LLM: The Devolution of Trust Psychology?
Powers ST, Urquhart N, Barnes CM, Cimpeanu T, Ekárt A, Han TA, Pitt J & Guckert M (2025) What's It Like To Trust An LLM: The Devolution of Trust Psychology?. IEEE Technology and Society Magazine, 44 (3). https://doi.org/10.1109/MTS.2025.3583233
Article
The Stuff We Swim in: Regulation Alone Will Not Lead to Justifiable Trust in AI
Powers ST, Linnyk O, Guckert M, Hannig J, Pitt J, Urquhart N, Ekárt A, Gumpfer N, Han TA, Lewis PR, Marsh S & Weber T (2023) The Stuff We Swim in: Regulation Alone Will Not Lead to Justifiable Trust in AI. IEEE Technology and Society Magazine, 42 (4), pp. 95-106. https://doi.org/10.1109/mts.2023.3341463
Article
Playing the political game: the coevolution of institutions with group size and political inequality
Powers ST, Perret C & Currie TE (2023) Playing the political game: the coevolution of institutions with group size and political inequality. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 378 (1883). https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2022.0303
Article
Four levers of reciprocity across human societies: concepts, analysis and predictions
Lehmann L, Powers ST & Schaik CPv (2022) Four levers of reciprocity across human societies: concepts, analysis and predictions. Evolutionary Human Sciences, 4, Art. No.: e11. https://doi.org/10.1017/ehs.2022.7
Article
Modelling the Impact of Individual Preferences on Traffic Policies
Nguyen J, Powers ST, Urquhart N, Farrenkopf T & Guckert M (2022) Modelling the Impact of Individual Preferences on Traffic Policies. SN Computer Science, 3, Art. No.: 365. https://doi.org/10.1007/s42979-022-01253-3
Article
Modelling transitions between egalitarian, dynamic leader and absolutist power structures
Bryden J, Silverman E & Powers ST (2022) Modelling transitions between egalitarian, dynamic leader and absolutist power structures. PLOS ONE, 17 (2), Art. No.: e0263665. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0263665
Article
Han TA, Perret C & Powers ST (2021) When to (or not to) trust intelligent machines: Insights from an evolutionary game theory analysis of trust in repeated games. Cognitive Systems Research, 68, pp. 111-124. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cogsys.2021.02.003
Article
Powers ST, van Schaik CP & Lehmann L (2021) Cooperation in large‐scale human societies—What, if anything, makes it unique, and how did it evolve?. Evolutionary Anthropology, 30 (4), pp. 280-293. https://doi.org/10.1002/evan.21909
Conference Paper (unpublished)
A mechanism to promote social behaviour in household load balancing
Brooks NA, Powers ST & Borg JM (2020) A mechanism to promote social behaviour in household load balancing. ALIFE 2020: The 2020 Conference on Artificial Life, Online, 13.07.2020-18.07.2020. https://doi.org/10.1162/isal_a_00290
Article
Trusting Intelligent Machines: Deepening Trust Within Socio-Technical Systems
Andras P, Esterle L, Guckert M, Han TA, Lewis PR, Milanovic K, Payne T, Perret C, Pitt J, Powers ST, Urquhart N & Wells S (2018) Trusting Intelligent Machines: Deepening Trust Within Socio-Technical Systems. IEEE Technology and Society Magazine, 37 (4), pp. 76-83. https://doi.org/10.1109/mts.2018.2876107
