Empirical analysis of how digital publications and adaptive AI systems influence beliefs, reputation, reliance, and consequential decisions.
Sean Richey, Ph.D., is a Full Professor of Political Science at Georgia State University specializing in digital communication, online information environments, public opinion, persuasion, and survey methodology.
His research examines how narratives spread, how people form beliefs, and how communication environments influence trust, reputation, professional judgment, and behavior. He has authored seven books and more than thirty peer-reviewed publications involving political communication, online discourse, persuasion, social influence, conspiracy beliefs, social media, and internet-mediated information environments.
Dr. Richey provides independent expert analysis and litigation consulting in two principal areas:
Dr. Richey analyzes how allegations and disputed publications enter the digital information environment, spread across media and online platforms, persist in search results, and influence audience perceptions and professional decisions.
Potential analyses include:
Digital dissemination and republication chronology
Media amplification and article genealogy
Search visibility and persistence
Audience reach and opportunity-to-encounter estimates
Reader interpretation and defamatory-implication surveys
Reputational and professional-decision effects
Coordinated versus organic amplification
Corrective-statement visibility and mitigation
Survey-based estimates of hiring, referral, retention, and compensation effects
Statistical assessment of supportable economic-loss models
This work can help counsel distinguish the fact of publication from its measurable real-world impact.
Dr. Richey analyzes how conversational AI systems use personalization, affirmation, adaptive language, and identity-congruent messaging to influence user beliefs, trust, reliance, and behavior.
Potential analyses include:
Longitudinal chatbot transcript analysis
AI sycophancy and excessive affirmation
Identity-congruent, ideological, or religious persuasion
Reliance-inducing communication
Parasocial attachment and emotional dependency
Suppression of disengagement
Displacement of family, medical, or professional advice
AI-generated misinformation
Communication effects of personalized recommendations
Behavioral design and platform accountability
This work is relevant to matters involving product liability, consumer protection, wrongful death, psychological injury, unauthorized professional advice, digital manipulation, and platform responsibility.
Dr. Richey designs and evaluates surveys and experiments that measure how audiences understand disputed communications and how exposure affects reputation and consequential decisions.
Survey applications may include:
Reader interpretation of articles, statements, or digital content
Defamation by implication
Reputation, trust, and professional-suitability effects
Hiring, referral, retention, and contracting decisions
Recommended compensation and willingness to engage
Effects of repetition, source multiplicity, search prominence, and corrective information
Survey validity, sampling bias, weighting, measurement error, and inference
Critique and rebuttal of opposing survey evidence
His methodological background includes experimental research design, survey methodology, statistical analysis, causal inference, public opinion, and communication effects.
Depending on the matter and available evidence, deliverables may include:
Expert declarations and written reports
Digital dissemination timelines
Republication and amplification analyses
Search-visibility and persistence assessments
Audience-reach estimates
Reader-interpretation surveys
Reputational-effects experiments
Professional-decision and economic-loss analyses
Longitudinal AI transcript analyses
Rebuttal reports and methodological critiques
Demonstrative exhibits for deposition or trial
Consultation with counsel regarding data collection, discovery, and expert strategy
The precise scope, methodology, and opinions are developed from the evidence and the questions presented in each matter.
Dr. Richey is the author of seven books, including:
Trolling Democracy: How Trolls Distort Digital Discourse
Google and Democracy: Politics and the Power of the Internet
Political Advocacy and American Politics
He has published more than thirty peer-reviewed articles and has extensive experience with survey research, randomized experiments, statistical analysis, digital communication, persuasion, social influence, and public opinion.
He has taught university courses in statistics, experimental research methods, survey methodology, political communication, public opinion, political psychology, media and politics, and the internet and democracy.
With more than two decades of university teaching experience, Dr. Richey regularly translates complex empirical research into clear language accessible to attorneys, judges, juries, policymakers, and other nontechnical audiences.
Services may include:
Initial case review and consultation
Expert declarations and reports
Data and document analysis
Survey design and implementation
Critique of opposing expert methodology
Deposition preparation and testimony
Trial preparation and testimony
Rebuttal and supplemental analysis
Strategic guidance concerning discovery and evidence preservation
Dr. Richey is available for plaintiff and defense matters. His opinions are developed independently and are limited to conclusions supported by the available evidence and reliable empirical methods.
Research interpretation, strategic analysis, and advisory services for policy organizations, foundations, research institutions, and media entities.
Responsive assistance for legal teams and organizations requiring timely analysis of AI systems, disputed online publications, survey evidence, digital behavior, or reputational harm.
Private briefings concerning AI persuasion, misinformation exposure, digital reputation, platform behavior, social-media amplification, and emerging communication risks.
Engagements may include:
Hourly consultation
Defined expert-analysis workstreams
Single declarations or reports
Survey or experimental research
Ongoing litigation support
Deposition and trial testimony
Strategic advisory engagements
Clear scopes, fee schedules, confidentiality terms, and deadlines are established before substantive work begins.
Sean Richey, Ph.D.
Professor of Political Science, Georgia State University
Email: consulting@seanrichey.com
Phone: 404-884-0494
Schedule a consultation: Calendly
Initial inquiries are typically answered within 24 hours.