of Stanford Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence Institute (HAI) and Amazon Web Services (AWS) Launched AWS Marketing Science Lab with Stanford. This is a new research collaboration focused on progress. A.I. A machine learning approach to marketing measurement.
In this effort, Stanford HAI, Stanford Data Science, Stanford Graduate School of Business, and AWS collaborate to address marketing analytics challenges using AI/ML techniques. The lab will be led by Guido Imbens, co-director of Stanford University’s HAI-SDS. Susan Athey, Stanford Graduate School of Management, Wesley Hartman, Stanford Graduate School of Management, and Jiafeng (Kevin) Chen, Stanford Economics Department.
In a LinkedIn post announcing the launch, the Stanford Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence Institute (HAI) wrote: “Last week, industry and academic AI experts gathered at Stanford University to launch the new Stanford and AWS Marketing Science Lab, a collaboration between the Stanford Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence Institute (HAI), Stanford Data Science, Stanford Graduate School of Management, and Amazon Web Services (AWS) to advance research in marketing measurement and AI/ML.”
Post continues: Our goal is to provide practical and scalable tools for better decision-making, including improved approaches to marketing measurement, new techniques for B2B customer journey analysis, and AI-powered causal inference. Results include published research, open source code, and prototypes.
A special thank you to Julia White, AWS Vice President and CMO, for helping facilitate this collaboration. ”
Focus on causal inference and scalable tools
The institute’s research will focus on improving marketing measurement techniques and applying AI-powered causal inference to real-world business problems, according to the announcement. We also explore new ways to analyze B2B customer journeys.
The focus on open source code and prototypes signals an intention to move beyond theoretical research to practical implementation. For higher education and EdTech researchers, this partnership reflects a growing trend of AI research partnerships between major cloud providers and academic institutions.
Emory University associate professor and Amazon Scholar Pedro Santana also commented on LinkedIn, writing:
It’s really great to see my Amazon Web Services (AWS) organization involved in research and academia in this way. This highlights the team’s positive energy, ambition and future-ready mindset. All the while, remaining deeply curious and keeping your business goals front and center.
This partnership will create strong synergies, create a lot of value and boost both parties.
Congratulations to Karolis Urbonas, guido imbens, the Stanford Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence (HAI), and everyone involved.
Now, let’s ship! ”
Expansion of AI research collaboration model
Stanford HAI describes its mission as advancing human-centered AI research, education, policy, and practice. The organization leverages multidisciplinary expertise across business, economics, law, medicine, and computer science to guide AI development.
Stanford Data Science focuses on embedding data science research and methods across the university, while the Stanford Graduate School of Management focuses on leadership and management education.
The new Marketing Science Lab sits at the intersection of these efforts, combining academic research with AWS cloud infrastructure and applied AI capabilities. This partnership reflects a broader pattern in AI development, with academic institutions and cloud providers working together to accelerate research, turn discoveries into tools, and test methodologies at scale.
For the education sector, the lab highlights how AI research connects with applied use cases such as measurement, analytics, and decision support. The results, especially open source tools and prototypes, could influence how AI is integrated into business education, analytics curricula, and digital strategy programs.
ETIH Innovation Award 2026
The ETIH Innovation Awards 2026 is now open and recognizes education technology organizations that are driving measurable impact across K-12, higher education, and lifelong learning. The award welcomes applications from the UK, the Americas and overseas, and applications will be assessed on the basis of evidence of achievement and practical application.
