This is the home of the DesignAI group at Cornell Computing and Information Science, a boutique research group focused on advancing human-centered tech design methods for the age of Artificial Intelligence. We have three superpowers: We create first-of-their-kind AI applications that address messy real-world problems. We conduct qualitative user research and evaluation in the wild. And from that work, we derive novel design thinking, design methods, and design tools.
HAI Design Research
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Profiling AI as a Material for Software Design
When and how do existing human-centered technology design methods fall short in translating AI's technical advances into benefits to users and society?
Featured work -
Methods and Tools for Designing GenAI as Thinking Partners
How can we design generative AI applications that influence users' thinking at the right time, in the right way, and to the right extent?
Featured work- CoAuthor 🏅 Understanding the cognitive impact of writing with LLMs. Paper · Dataset & platform
- PAIL 🏅 Designing vibe coding tools that augment software design across multiple levels of abstraction. Paper
- Truman Agents Crafting interactive, multi-agent social media simulations to cultivate bystander intervention against cyberbullying. Paper · Platform
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Towards Aligning Infrastructural AI platforms with Public Interest
From AI-mediated social media platforms to ChatGPT and Claude, many of the most impactful AI applications are for-profit societal infrastructure: they mediate critical societal functions (e.g., civic discourse, public health education), yet in ways shaped by commercial incentives that do not always align with the public good. Existing research calls for regulation or pursues activism to address this misalignment. What can we, as designers, do to help, given our distinctive expertise in building AI things that address ill-defined, messy societal problems?
Featured work
HAI Design Courses
HAI Design Events
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Making Sense of Creative Activity Traces
CHI 2026 Workshop
New
Barcelona, Spain -
Longitudinal Reserach
of AI SystemsUIST 2025 Workshop
Busan, Korea -
Everyday AI & Mental Health
Thought Summit
spotlight
Ithaca, NY 2025 -
Design Tech & Policy Simultaneously
CHI 2023 Workshop
Hamburg, Germany -
Responsible Language Technologies
CHI'22 Panel
New Orleans, LA -
Bridging HCI and NLP Workshops
EACL'21 & NAACL'22