CMU Human-Computer Interaction Institute

Women Are Falling in Love With A.I. It’s a Problem for Beijing.

Why are AI boyfriends and chatbots so popular with young women? Hong Shen @hongshen.bsky.social, who studies AI users in China and the United States, weighs in on the social factors driving the rise of AI romances.
From @nytimes.com:
www.nytimes.com/2026/02/26/t...

Congratulations, Jeff, Laura and Chris!! 🎉

#cmuhcii #CarnegieMellon #CHI2026
@jeffreybigham.com
@dabbish.bsky.social
@scsatcmu.bsky.social

HCII faculty Jeffrey Bigham, Laura Dabbish & Chris Harrison are part of the 2026 CHI Academy cohort, an honorary group of people who have made substantial contributions to the human-computer interaction field. Congrats!
Details: https://hcii.cmu.edu/news/bigham-dabbish-and-harrison-join-chi-academy

Congratulations, @lorriecranor.bsky.social! 🎉

Our next #HCIISeminarSeries guest will be Daniel Fried, Assistant Professor, LTI at CMU
"Inducing and Using Abstractions of Agent Actions"
Friday, Feb. 27, 2:00 pm
NSH 1305 + livestream
https://hcii.cmu.edu/news/event/2026/02/hcii-seminar-series-daniel-fried

#cmuhcii #CarnegieMellon

Botender helps communities iteratively align their AI agents with their collective intents through case-based provocations.

🔮 How can we empower online communities to design AI agents tailored to their unique needs and norms?

In our #CHI2026 paper, we introduce #Botender, a system that enables collaborative design of AI agents through 🔥case-based provocation🔥

I'm hiring a postdoc at @cmu.edu (w/ far.ai & @dgrand.bsky.social + @gordpennycook.bsky.social)!

How do LLMs shape human beliefs — and what do we do about it? AI safety meets behavioral science.

Open to technical and social science backgrounds.

Congrats on a great weaving exhibit, @uhleeeeeeeshuh.bsky.social! 🧶

Big congratulations @frank.computer!! 🎉

Our next #HCIISeminarSeries. Our guest will be Haoqi Zhang, Associate Professor in Computer Science and Design, Northwestern University.

"Computational Ecosystems: Advancing Human Values Through Integrative Computing and Changing Practice "
Friday, 2.20.26 @ 2:00 pm
https://ow.ly/iXXn50YhLag

Weaving Sociotechnical Resistance at The Frame Gallery - School of Art | Carnegie Mellon University For Alicia DeVrio, a PhD candidate at Carnegie Mellon University’s Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) Institute, the loom is a site of sociotechnical resistance.

@hcii.cmu.edu PhD candidate Alicia DeVrio explores the tension between stability and collapse through woven forms.

We thank @bradamyers.bsky.social for his stewardship for the past several years, and we look forward to advancing the mission of the HCII together.

Brad Myers stands in the hallway, Gates building is out of focus in the background

Please join us in supporting & congratulating Professor Brad Myers on another term as the Charles M. Geschke Director of the Human-Computer Interaction Institute. Myers has been reappointed to another 3-year term by Martial Hebert, dean of Carnegie Mellon University CMU School of Computer Science.

Plush Neuron Makes AI Approachable A team at Carnegie Mellon University is helping kids understand artificial intelligence with a soft, squishy, LED-lit neural network.

To introduce complex concepts like AI to creative young learners, teaching might begin with something soft and colorful.

Designed for small hands and big questions, the brightly colored plush neuron developed by CMU researchers helps students understand AI systems.

#LearningScience

Hunt Library made out of LEGO bricks.

Data isn't just spreadsheets and code. As part of #LoveDataWeek, we're partnering with the ETC using LEGO® bricks to visualize trends and explore data storytelling in a fun, collaborative environment.

Join us 2/18 4-6pm in Hunt Library.

Click to learn how to make this model. etc.cmu.edu/26001.pdf

📣 New at #CHI2026
People share sensitive things “anonymously”… but anonymity is hard to reason about.

What if we could quantify re-identification risk with AI? How should we present those AI-estimated risks to users?

Led by my student Isadora Krsek

Paper: www.sauvik.me/papers/70/s...

CMU Examines How AI Tools Are Reshaping Learning for Both Teachers and Students At Carnegie Mellon University, an initiative to research the impacts of generative AI tools on teaching and learning is helping the university take an empirical approach to studying whether, when and how generative AI can have a positive effect on student outcomes.

At Carnegie Mellon, researchers are exploring how gen AI tools impact teaching and learning.

Ongoing projects explore student outcomes when AI is utilized in the classroom, and how faculty can leverage AI tools effectively.

Read more about CMU’s leadership in #AI in the classroom:

A History of Learning Science at Carnegie Mellon Carnegie Mellon University has a long history of using technology to study and improve learning.

Carnegie Mellon has a long history of using technology to improve learning.

Home to one of the world’s first university computation centers, CMU’s commitment to learning science continues today.

Learnvia scales these efforts widely and engages a broader set of educators in learning engineering.

🎙️✨ "AI & Design" is a new #podcast from HCII faculty Dan Saffer and Nikolas Martelaro. Each week, they break down the latest #AI developments, tools and trends for the design community.

Learn more in this Q&A with the hosts: hcii.cmu.edu/news/ai-desi...

@odannyboy.bsky.social @scsatcmu.bsky.social

Users beware, findings show what appears to be a simple trick that exploits a fundamental usability problem in how cryptocurrency wallets work.

#Usability #UX #Phishing #InformationSecurity #Crypto

Yes, just visit the web page and click the link under Video to watch the recording.

We're back today with our first HCII Seminar Series of the Spring 2026 semester. Join us!
🎤 "From Cognitive Burden to Collaborative Intelligence: Socio-Technical AI for Clinical Communication" with Sarah Preum
📅 January 23
🕑 2:00 pm
📍 NSH 1305 + livestream
🔗 hcii.cmu.edu/news/event/2...

Empowering Everyday Folks To Audit AI WeAudit helps users test AI tools to discover issues like biases that developers might have missed. For example, if a user prompts a generative AI tool to produce images of a nurse and a doctor, and the nurses are all female and the doctors are male — as they are in the image above — then the user could generate a report about the bias.

WeAudit, from researchers in @hcii.cmu.edu, helps users test AI tools to discover issues like biases that developers might have missed. 
 

Collage of nine photos showing academic achievements, group celebrations, and personal moments with friends and colleagues. These are the 9 most popular images we posted during the past year.

HCII Community, here are your biggest moments from 2025 (on Instagram). From honoring The Last Lecture to welcoming our new students, thanks for letting us celebrate with you!
#cmuhcii #top9

Group of eight professionals standing side by side in a conference room with a presentation screen behind them.

Carnegie Mellon University authors contributed to 8 papers at ASSETS 2025 with topics covering daily living, content creation, social connections, work and productivity. Learn more: https://hcii.cmu.edu/news/cmu-assets-2025
#cmuhcii #a11y #AssistiveTechnology

Sounds like a great opportunity for anyone building a spring 2026 schedule right now! Hey @cmu.edu students, check out this HCII special topics course "Building Technologies for the Resistance." 👀

hcii.cmu.edu/course/speci...

#privacy #cybersecurity #ethics #TechEthics #SurveillanceCapitalism

Photo credits:
1) Pattharin Deariz Ongartitthichai
2-3) Johannes Eschner
4) Voyager authors

#IEEEVIS #DataVis #DataViz #cmuhcii #CarnegieMellon #TartanProud #TestOfTimeAward #ComputerScience

Voyager's mixed-initiative approach (where the computer provides smart recommendations to help the human analyst) is even more relevant today with the advancement of AI.

Learn more about the Voyager paper:
hcii.cmu.edu/news/voyager...

Congrats to Dominik Moritz & collaborators for earning the 10-year InfoVis Test of Time Award at IEEE VIS! Their 2015 paper, "Voyager: Exploratory Analysis via Faceted Browsing of Visualization Recommendations," helped to shift the field from human-led visualization to a mixed-initiative approach.

Attention undergraduates: Apply now to work on one of our 15 HCI REU projects next summer. Our Summer 2026 research program application is open until January 15.
🔗 Details: https://hcii.cmu.edu/news/hcii-seeks-applicants-2026-summer-research-program

#CarnegieMellon #cmuhcii #NSFREU