Ken Holstein

I am the Robert E. Kraut Assistant Professor of Human-Computer Interaction at Carnegie Mellon University, where I direct the CMU CoALA Lab. I am also part of the CMU-NIST Cooperative Research Center on AI Measurement Science & Engineering (AIMSEC).

In my research, I explore how we might design AI systems to bring out the best of human ability and expertise, rather than simply automating activities that humans do best or find personally meaningful. This includes studying questions like:

  1. How can we design AI to augment human thinking and learning, elevating human knowledge and expertise rather than diminishing it?

  2. How can we support better collaboration and communication in real-world contexts, both among groups of humans and between humans and AI systems?

  3. How can we broaden who is able to participate in shaping AI, to integrate diverse human expertise (e.g., domain, lived, cultural, and technical expertise) across the AI development lifecycle?

Throughout my research, I draw on approaches from human–computer interaction (HCI), AI, design, cognitive science, learning sciences, responsible AI, statistics, and machine learning, among other areas.

My work has been generously supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF), National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), Jacobs Foundation, The Block Center for Technology and Society, CASMI & UL Research Institutes, PwC, Notre-Dame IBM Technology Ethics Lab, Microsoft Research, Google Research, Amazon Research, Cisco Research, Apple, IES, Metro21, PIT-UN, eBay, MetaGov, and Prolific.

You can find my recent publications on my Google Scholar page and my CV.