Critical AI & Crisis Interrogatives (CRAI-CIS) Seminar
Monthly dialogues and critical perspectives on artificial intelligence, Human Computer Interaction (HCI), participatory design, and crisis-related research for societal impact.
The CRAI-CIS Seminars engage emerging work across critical AI, Human Computer Interaction (HCI), participatory design, and crisis-related research. The seminars seek to invoke dialogues on how computational, human-centred, and social sciences perspectives can offer new insights and methods for inclusive approaches and critical inquiry with societal impact.
Each event features invited speakers who share distinct perspectives, ongoing research, methods, and challenges for future work in a 45 minute talk, followed by Q&A and space for mingling and networking. The talks will be recorded for open access in the future.
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Wendy Mackay: Applying Generative Theory to Human-Computer Partnerships
Time: May 10, 2023, 16:00–17:30
Venue: Event is hybrid. Participants may attend in person (T2, Computer Science Building, Aalto University) or online on Zoom.
Abstract:
How can we can design "human-computer partnerships" that take optimal advantage of human skills and system capabilities? Artificial Intelligence research is usually measured in terms of the effectiveness of an algorithm, whereas Human-Computer Interaction research focuses on enhancing human skills. I argue that better AI algorithms are neither necessary nor sufficient for creating more effective intelligent systems. Instead, we need to focus on the details of interaction and successfully balance simplicity of interaction with power of expression. After describing our work on "generative theories of interaction”, I describe multiple projects that illustrate novel intelligent interactive systems that users find discoverable, expressive and appropriable.
Speaker Bio:
Dr. Wendy Mackay is a Research Director, Classe Exceptionnelle, at Inria Saclay where she leads the Ex-Situ research lab in Human-Computer Interaction, joint with the LISN (Université Paris-Saclay, CNRS) Computer Science Research laboratory. She was the 2021-2022 Annual Chair for Computer Science for the Collège de France, and is a Doctor Honoris Causa, Aarhus University, an ACM Fellow and a member of the ACM CHI Academy. She received a six-year European Research Council Advanced Grant for her research on human-computer partnerships, where she introduced the theory of reciprocal co-adaptation. She has published over 200 research articles in the area of Human-Computer Interaction. Her work combines theoretical, empirical and design contributions with a current focus on re-envisioning the interaction between human users and intelligent systems. She has introduced numerous multi-disciplinary design and evaluation methods, and is currently exploring how to design systems where users and intelligent agents share agency, both interactively and over long time periods, to avoid deskilling and instead increase human human capabilities. Current application areas range from work with creative professionals (choreographers, designers, and musicians) to safety critical settings (smart cockpits and emergency control rooms).