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The truth is infinitely complex and a model is merely an approximation to the truth. If the approximation is poor or misleading, then the model is useless. ― T. Tarpey†

What is data centricity?

Every data model tells a story about the world. Behind every regression, every neural network, every forecast is a set of assumptions: choices we make about what matters, what can be ignored, and how the underlying reality behaves. These assumptions form the invisible architecture of the insights we derive.

Data centricity is about getting that architecture right. Our focus goes beyond collecting more data or cleaning it better. We ask: are the assumptions that connect data to insights sound? When assumptions hold, models reveal useful insights. When they don't, even the most complex models are useless.

At Data Centricity Lab, we study this gap: the space between raw data and reliable insights for decision making. Our work spans the assumptions embedded in statistical methods (parametric, nonparametric, semi-parametric), the assumptions required by different modeling objectives (causal inference, prediction), and the assumptions that carry forward into the decisions these models inform.

Ongoing Research Project

Are LLM Shopping Agents Behavioral Consumers? Evidence from a Pricing & Merchandising Experiment on Amazon Product Cards

As consumers begin to delegate purchasing decisions to LLM-powered AI agents, a critical question emerges: how should pricing and merchandising algorithms be designed when the "customer" is no longer a human but an LLM? Today's online retail algorithms are built on decades of research in behavioral economics: humans are not good at assessing data at face value and are prone to loss aversion, reference dependence, and artificial scarcity and urgency effects. But if AI agents make decisions differently from humans, focusing more objectively on the signals, existing retail strategies may not work as intended.

In this project, we systematically measure and analyze the decisions of LLM-powered shopping agents and test whether they mirror human-like heuristics and cognitive biases, such as reference dependence or susceptibility to artificial urgency and scarcity cues like "Limited time deal" or "Only 1 left in stock."

More from the lab

Our projects range from research (the price elasticity of LLM agents) to a business-friendly blog (Data Duets) to the applications listed below, where we focus on putting data centricity into action.