Autumn 2026 Buffalo Business 21
Your AI chat may reveal more
than you think
"There is a need for AI systems that can warn users in
real time before the information is shared. With the
right training, smaller AI models running on personal
devices can detect privacy risks more effectively than
much larger cloud-based systems, offering users more
control over how much they are sharing."
— Shaojie Tang, chair and professor of manage-
ment science and systems, and faculty director of the Center for
AI Business Innovation, on his research examining how privacy
detection models can be developed for real-world AI interactions
and whether users could be warned before unintentionally sharing
private details. The paper was accepted by the leading data science
and AI conference KDD 2026. Read more at bit.ly/UB-AI-Privacy.
How #MeToo led to improved
loan access for women
"In addition to shiing attitudes and raising awareness, large social
movements like #MeToo can also measurably influence financial
decision-making, in this case by speeding up access to credit for
women."
— Charles Lindsey, associate professor of marketing, on his study
that found female borrowers on peer-to-peer lending platform
Kiva were funded more quickly aer #MeToo rose to prominence
in 2017 — and that rate continued to rise as the number of high-profile #MeToo
events increased. He collaborated on the study with
Cristian Tiu, associate professor of finance, and
Raj Sharman, professor of management science
and systems, and the research was nominated
for a Best Paper award at the International
Conference on Information Systems. Read more
at bit.ly/ubmgt-metoo-loans.
Lindsey
Tiu Sharman
More women, better audits
"Evidence from psychology, economics and organiza-
tional behavior shows that many traits, behaviors
and characteristics commonly associated with
women, such as being more risk averse, cooperative
and detailed in processing information, oen lead to
better results. We find consistent results in the audit
industry."
— Brandon Szerwo, associate professor of account-
ing and law, on his study about the gender
composition of audit teams he coauthored with
Joshua Khavis, assistant professor of accounting
and law. The study finds that audit teams with more
women, particularly audit leaders, consistently
report fewer financial misstatements and charge
lower audit fees. The study appeared in the Review of Accounting
Studies. Read more at bit.ly/UB-audit-teams.
Khavis
Szerwo
