Human Computation Institute

The Human Computation Institute (HCI) is a nonprofit innovation center that leverages the collective intelligence of networked humans and machines to solve complex societal problems. Its primary focus in the health sector is accelerating Alzheimer's disease research through the "Stall Catchers" project, a citizen science game that crowdsources the analysis of brain imaging data to identify capillary stalls. By engaging thousands of volunteers to perform tasks that are currently difficult for AI alone, HCI significantly reduces the time required to identify potential therapeutic targets. The institute also works on other health-related initiatives, such as "CrowdMeter" for COVID-19 monitoring and "Dream Catchers" for sleep research. HCI collaborates extensively with academic institutions like Cornell University and is led by Executive Director Pietro Michelucci.