Dr. Yichen Rao is an Assistant Professor of Cultural Anthropology and the China AI Lead at the Inclusive AI Lab. He holds a Ph.D. in Anthropology and Science and Technology Studies (STS) from the University of Hong Kong and has held research fellowships or appointments at MIT, the University of Michigan, and the University of Vienna. From 2024 to 2027, he serves as a council member of the Society for Social Studies of Science (4S)—the world’s largest STS community—as well as Sci-Tech Asia, an international research network.

Rao’s research examines how digital and AI infrastructures, fintech systems, and gaming cultures reshape economic life, moral worlds, and social relations in global China. His ethnographic fieldwork has explored treatment camps for youth internet addiction, scam economies operating across global China, and China’s expanding influence in global e-commerce, fintech, and AI ecosystems. He has also conducted studies on digital debt collection practices, digital Ponzi schemes, the cultural phenomenon of Animal Crossing during the pandemic, and the embodied experience of “being digital” in the context of global crises.