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 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) and Sci-Tech Asia.

He is an anthropologist and STS scholar whose research examines how digital and AI infrastructures reshape economic life, social relations, and capitalist subjectivities. His work focuses particularly on China and its expanding role in global digital economies, combining ethnographic research with perspectives from anthropology, STS, and political economy. His research has explored China's fintech and scam economies, digital debt and financial technologies, gaming cultures, and emerging AI and e-commerce ecosystems.

His current research develops an in-depth understanding of how Chinese digital infrastructures, AI ecosystems, and global supply chains are transforming economic practices and forms of subjectivity across different parts of the world.

Research Areas

1. AI, Digital Infrastructures & Global Digital Economies

Rao examines how digital infrastructures, AI ecosystems, platforms, and global digital supply chains reorganize economic practices and transnational markets. His research pays particular attention to China's expanding role in global digital economies, including AI ecosystems, e-commerce, digital platforms, and emerging forms of digital production.

Keywords: AI ecosystems · digital infrastructures · platforms · e-commerce · global digital economies · China · digital supply chains

2. Scams, The Role of Trust and Deception in Digital Economy, & Economic Subjectivities

Rao's research explores how fintech, digital credit, debt, and scam economies transform financial practices and produce new forms of economic and moral subjectivity. His work on China's P2P lending crisis, digital debt collection, financial scams, and digital Ponzi schemes examines how financial technologies mediate trust, risk, deception, and participation in contemporary capitalism.

Keywords: fintech · financialization · digital debt · scam economies · P2P lending · financial subjectivities · economic anthropology

3. Digital Culture, Gaming, Addiction, & Subject Formation

Rao studies how digital technologies become embedded in everyday life, shaping cultural practices, social relations, and forms of subjectivity. His ethnographic research on gaming cultures, internet addiction treatment, youth, and digital consumption examines the intersections of technology, morality, psychological governance, and social transformation.

Keywords: digital culture · gaming · internet addiction · youth · subjectivity · technology and society · psychological governance