As artificial intelligence (AI) continues to advance rapidly, it becomes more important than ever to understand how the technology could connect to humans through human-centered design. Jina Huh-Yoo’s focus on human-centered AI brings together computer science, psychology, design, and the social sciences to understand people’s needs — and use those insights to design and evaluate artificial intelligence in ways that help individuals and society.
“We’re working to understand what people truly need from technology — and design it in ways that benefit them,” she explained. “We also go beyond technology development to consider ethical and policy issues, such as how we can make AI responsible.”
To fully address the complexities of the tender human side of AI’s benefits in healthcare, Huh-Yoo’s work at Stevens centers on fostering collaboration between people from the Stevens community and beyond. This ensures that technology goes beyond simply functioning to powerfully connect, empower, and uplift the people who use it.
She started a monthly student-run Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) event for undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral students to exchange ideas and learn from one another. HCI, as the name suggests, is a multidisciplinary field of study that explores the connection between humans and computers, and uses that information to design technology that maximizes the user experience. Additionally, she recently collaborated with colleagues from Princeton, Rutgers, and Cornell Tech to host nearly 100 experts for talks and panels.
She has also launched the Health and Happiness Design Lab with the following mission: “We believe multidisciplinarity and creativity are the keys to strong HCI, social computing, and health informatics research. We consist of individuals with various backgrounds—art and design, information and computer sciences, psychology, and statistics (and more coming)—and we collaborate with people with a wide array of interests and expertise in medicine, nursing, clinical psychology, and public health with the same aim: How can we use advancing technology to support health?”
Huh-Yoo has received research grant funding from the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation (NSF) to address a growing healthcare challenge: how to use AI to ease the emotional and logistical burdens on caregivers without replacing the human connection that care requires?
“I want to understand the role of AI in conversational interactions when people are in the difficult position of informal caregiving,” she said. “We focus on people who are sick, but it’s also critical to focus on the people who are taking care of those who are sick. I am looking into what roles AI can — and cannot — play, through both information and emotional support. As we continue to design technology, we need to understand how AI might support and not harm the caregiving process.”
Currently, she is leading “DURAIS: A Platform for Co-Designing and Understanding the Roles of Conversational Artificial Intelligence Systems on Caregiving.” She is working to improve conversational AI systems such as Alexa and Siri to help spouses, children, and other unpaid caregivers in home settings.
“This is a timely topic that, as designers of AI, we all need to grasp,” Huh-Yoo said. “Without understanding the role of AI, we would just be creating whatever we want, without considering the potential harms or maximizing the benefits.”
