Speaker:
Professor Marina Niessner

Speaker Department/Institution:
Finance
Indiana University, Kelley School of Business

Presentation Title:
AI Personality Extraction from Faces: Labor Market Implications

Presentation Description:
Human capital—encompassing cognitive skills and personality traits—is critical for labor market success, yet the personality component remains difficult to measure at scale. Leveraging advances in artificial intelligence and comprehensive LinkedIn microdata, we extract the Big 5 personality traits from facial images of 96,000 MBA graduates, and demonstrate that this novel “Photo Big 5” predicts school rank, compensation, job seniority, industry choice, job transitions, and career advancement. Using administrative records from top-tier MBA programs, we find that the Photo Big 5 exhibits only modest correlations with cognitive measures like GPA and standardized test scores, yet offers comparable incremental predictive power for labor outcomes. Unlike traditional survey-based personality measures, the Photo Big 5 is readily accessible and potentially less susceptible to manipulation, making it suitable for wide adoption in academic research and hiring processes. However, its use in labor market screening raises ethical concerns regarding statistical discrimination and individual autonomy.

Speaker Bio:
Dr. Niessner is currently an Assistant Professor of Finance at Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business. Prior to joining Kelley, she was the Judith C. and William G. Bollinger Visiting Associate Professor of Finance at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School. Previously, she served as a Vice President on the Global Stock Selection team at AQR Capital Management, and as an Assistant Professor of Finance at the Yale School of Management. Dr. Niessner holds a B.A. in Economics and Statistics and a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Chicago.

Dr. Niessner's research focuses on the intersection of behavioral finance and modern technology, with particular emphasis on FinTech, Artificial Intelligence, and Cryptocurrencies. She has written extensively on the impact of financial social media on the stock market, the spread of fake news online, and the trading behaviors of investors in cryptocurrency markets.

Her academic research has been published in leading finance and accounting journals, such as the Journal of Finance, the Journal of Financial Economics, the Review of Financial Studies, and the Journal of Accounting Research, and has been featured in the Financial Times and the Wall Street Journal.