Hua Shen

Date: February 16th, 2026

Time: 16:00 (CET)

Title:  From HCI to Policy: Connecting Empirical Insights on AI Development and Use to AI Governance

Abstract: Recent meta-work in HCI has called for deeper and more sustained engagement with policymaking. This presentation responds to that call by framing AIxHCI research as a critical bridge between the realities of AI development and use and the goals of AI governance. After briefly highlighting a small set of research works that exemplify this perspective, I present my ongoing research at the intersection of empirical HCI methods and policy-relevant questions about AI and generative AI. On the AI development side, I introduce a literature survey of AIxHCI studies examining the practices and values of AI developers, and reflect on what these findings imply for policymakers seeking to regulate AI systems in a more grounded manner. On the AI use side, I present a desk-research-based study (CHI’26) that examines how disclosures about generative AI use—provided by GenAI providers—can be structured and expanded to better support accountability and oversight. This work identifies systematic skews and recurring pitfalls in current disclosure practices and discusses their implications for emerging AI governance regimes. Finally, I briefly outline follow-up projects that extend these contributions by engaging policymakers directly. Together, these projects illustrate how AIxHCI can contribute not only to improved AI systems, but also to more informed, grounded, and actionable AI policy.

About the Presenter:  Agathe Balayn is a postdoctoral researcher at Microsoft Research, New York City. Before that, she obtained her PhD in Computer Science / HCI from TU Delft, and spent a few months as a visiting researcher at ServiceNow and the University of Trento (Italy), and as a postdoctoral researcher at the Programmable Infrastructure group at the Technology, Policy, & Management (TPM) faculty of TU Delft (the Netherlands). Relying on in-depth qualitative inquiries in the production and deployment environments of machine learning systems, Agathe analyzes machine learning using a social, organizational, and political-economical lens that remains informed by the technical realities of production. Her research focuses on uncovering the harms that deploying machine learning systems into society can raise, understanding their causes, and envisioning remedies. She is particularly interested in characterizing ML supply chains, and in developing practical tools and policy solutions to support ML practitioners. Her research has been published in A* conferences and journals (e.g., ACM CHI, WWW, FAccT, VLDBJ, TSC, etc.), and has received considerable recognition, such as several best paper awards at conferences and an honorable mention at the Dutch For Women in Science Rising Talent Competition.

learn more about the presenter at: https://agathe-balayn.github.io/