 Pentland is one of the most cited authors in computer science with an h-index of 134, co-led the World Economic Forum discussion in Davos that led to the EU privacy regulation GDPR, and was central in forging the transparency and accountability mechanisms in the UN's Sustainable Development Goals.He founded and currently directs the MIT Connection Science an MIT-wide program which pioneered computational social science, using big data and AI to better understand human society, and the Trust