"Theoretical capability and observed usage by occupational category" a chart by Anthropic, showing that (in theory I guess) management, biz and finance, computers and math, architecture and engineering life & social sciences, the law, arts and media, sales and office & admin could all be using AI a lot but somehow aren't

I find this chart by Anthropic about theoretical vs. actual AI usage, from @pbump.com's latest newsletter, very funny, and I think it's worth explaining why, and also please push back on any of this if you disagree, as I may write about it in the future.

🧵

I look forward to both continuing existing collaborations (e.g., at CMU) and building new ones with colleagues at EPFL, in Switzerland more broadly, and across Europe!

...there are opportunities to collaborate across institutions and disciplines, through communities like Swiss CHI (swisschi.acm.org/news/), Swiss AI (www.swiss-ai.org), AlpCHI (alpchi.org), and more.

Be sure to also take a look at other EPFL faculty with related interests, as there may be opportunities for co-advising.

There are also lots of exciting opportunities for research-practice partnerships at EPFL, through centers like LEARN (learn.epfl.ch/en/homepage/). In addition...

EDIC Application Our Doctoral Program in Computer and Communication Sciences provides a rich intellectual environment with a distinctively international focus. Our graduate students collaborate with our internationall...

The next PhD application deadlines are April 15 and Dec. 15. You can apply to work with me through the Doctoral Program in Computer and Communication Sciences (www.epfl.ch/education/ph...) and/or through the Joint EPFL+ETHZ Doctoral Program in the Learning Sciences (www.epfl.ch/education/ph...)

Photo of EPFL's Rolex building, with a view of the Alps behind it.

If you are interested in collaborating or applying to work with me as a PhD student, please get in touch!

Relevant areas include human-centered and participatory AI, design of technologies to augment human thinking and learning, responsible AI, & futures of work and education (www.thecoalalab.com)

The CoALA Lab logo displayed above the text "CoALA @ EPFL", over a photo from the Lausanne region in Switzerland that shows the lake, alps, greenery, and villages.

The CoALA Lab is moving to Switzerland! 🇨🇭 After several amazing years at CMU’s Human-Computer Interaction Institute, this August I will join the faculty of EPFL’s School of Computer and Communication Sciences (@icepfl.bsky.social) in Lausanne, Switzerland.

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🔥

🎭 How do LLMs (mis)represent culture?
🧮 How often?
🧠 Misrepresentations = missing knowledge? spoiler: NO!

At #CHI2026 we are bringing ✨TALES✨ a participatory evaluation of cultural (mis)reps & knowledge in multilingual LLM-stories for India

📜 arxiv.org/abs/2511.21322

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Learn more about our group here: www.thecoalalab.com

For this postdoc, there's flexibility to scope a project together around mutual interests. Depending on your interests, there will also be opportunities to collaborate with PhD students and faculty collaborators across universities.

The start date is flexible, between August to November 2026.

I am recruiting a postdoc in HCI & AI!


Interested in augmenting human thinking and learning, futures of work & education, participatory AI, collective intelligence, or related topics? Please get in touch! This 2-year position will be based at a top university in Europe (email or DM for more info)

Microsoft Research NYC is hiring a researcher in the space of AI and society!

Submit to the 6th Human-Centered Explainable AI (HCXAI) workshop at CHI 2026 in Barcelona!

🗓️ Deadline: Feb 19, 2026
📝 2-5 page single column papers (excluding refs)
🌐 hcxai.jimdosite.com

w/ co-organizers Nick von Felten, Leon Reicherts, @anjali-singh.bsky.social, Tony Zhang, Peter Dalsgaard, Yue Fu, Zhitong Klara Guan, Jessica He, Haotian Li, Srishti Palani, Gonzalo Ramos, @seanrintel.bsky.social, @advaitsarkar.bsky.social, Anuschka Schmitt, & @levlevlev.bsky.social

The Tools for Thought workshop at #CHI2026 is now accepting submissions! (due Feb 12, 2026 AoE)

We invite work that explores how to effectively design, evaluate, or apply *AI-based tools that augment and protect human cognition*.

For more, see: ai-tools-for-thought.github.io/workshop/

In a new blog post, I contrast two flavors of empiricism: the one practiced in the social sciences and the one practiced in ML/CS.

I argue that we need both, given that CS is increasingly about "claims," and not just constructing artifacts.

doomscrollingbabel.manoel.xyz/p/the-empiri...

In case you missed it in the flurry of NeurIPS activity, @hannawallach.bsky.social and I recorded a (video) podcast on women in ML, friendship, research, and careers.

Spread the word! 📢 The FATE (Fairness, Accountability, Transparency, and Ethics) group at @msftresearch.bsky.social in NYC is hiring interns and postdocs to start in summer 2026! 🎉

Apply by *December 15* for full consideration.

How public involvement can improve the science of AI | PNAS As AI systems from decision-making algorithms to generative AI are deployed more widely, computer scientists and social scientists alike are being ...

Can public involvement in AI evaluation improve the science? Or does it compromise quality, speed, cost?

In @pnas.org, Megan Price & I summarize challenges of AI evaluation, review strengths/weaknesses, & suggest how participatory methods can improve the science of AI
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

I am beyond trilled to present two 🏆 award-winning papers 🏆 @acm-cscw.bsky.social this year CSCW in beautiful Bergen, Norway!! Broadly, I'm excited to chat about responsible AI, AI auditing and red-teaming, and human-AI interaction. Say hi if we run into each other!

The point is to understand Machines can’t make sense of the world for us.

Inspired by a post by @bayesianboy.bsky.social , I wrote something on the differences between information and insight — and why understanding remains a very human act

A subtle aspect of predictive modeling is target variable construction: the process of translating a latent, unobservable concept like "healthcare need" into a prediction target

But how does target variable construction unfold in practice, and how can we better support it going forward? #CSCW2025 🧵

LLM safety work often reasons over high-level policies (be helpful & polite), but must tackle on-the-ground cases (unsolicited money advice when stocks are mentioned). This can feel like driving on an unfamiliar road guided by a generic driver’s manual instead of a map. We introduce: Policy Maps 🗺️

There is a lot of talk and effort to figure out how genAI is different (I am also guilty of this!) -- the reality is that genAI is not that different and genAI is not that new either; it was hard to evaluate in the past, and it is still as hard to evaluate now #facct2025

Position: Evaluating Generative AI Systems Is a Social Science Measurement Challenge The measurement tasks involved in evaluating generative AI (GenAI) systems lack sufficient scientific rigor, leading to what has been described as "a tangle of sloppy tests [and] apples-to-oranges com...

Check out the camera-ready version of our ICML position paper ("Position: Evaluating Generative AI Systems Is a Social Science Measurement Challenge") to learn more!!! arxiv.org/abs/2502.00561

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Somewhat oddly, the Trump regime's initial moves to cut science funding went very broad. This is catalyzing solidarity & advocacy around the value of science (see comms featuring cancer cures & tech innovation). But their next move may be to try to drive a wedge b/w "good science" & "bad science".

How is fascism going for you? Here’s how it’s going for me. A catalog of impacts thus far from this administration’s horrors.

How's fascism going for you? medium.com/bits-and-beh...

Securing your phone before entering the USA. 🧵
At CDC we travel around the globe to confront health threats and have never worried about returning home. Yet more researchers, including US Citizens, are having their phones searched at Customs.

security.ucop.edu/resources/tr...

Unidentified men grabbing someone off the street and putting her in a car because she wrote an op-Ed. This as flatly authoritarian as anything we’ve seen in this country in a very long time.