NEWS
07/2026
Serving as an AC for CHI '27.
07/2026
"Narrative Keyframking" and "Malleable Prompting" conditionally accepted to UIST '26.
03/2026
"Interactive Explainable Ranking" received a Best Paper Award at CHI '26.
01/2026
"IER," "EvaluAId," and "Narrix" conditionally accepted to CHI '26.
01/2026
Serving as an AC for IDC '26.
01/2026
Joining Google DeepMind as a student researcher in Mountain View.
07/2025
"Synthia: Visually Interpreting and Synthesizing Feedback for Writing Revision" conditionally accepted to UIST '25.
06/2025
"Hey Curio, Can You Tell Me More?": Children's Information-Seeking and Trust in AI" received a Best Short Paper Award at IDC '25.
05/2025
Joining Adobe Research as a research intern in San Jose.
05/2025
"Navigating the Fog: How University Students Recalibrate Sensemaking Practices to Address Plausible Falsehoods in LLM Outputs" accepted to CUI '25.
03/2025
Joining Microsoft Office of Applied Research as a research intern remotely.
01/2025
"Friction: Deciphering Writing Feedback into Writing Revisions through LLM-Assisted Reflection" conditionally accepted to CHI '25.
01/2025
Three papers "BrickSmart", "CharacterCritique", and "DiSandbox" conditionally accepted to CHI '25.
11/2024
"From Awareness to Action: Exploring End-User Empowerment Interventions for Dark Patterns in UX" received a Best Paper Award at CSCW '24.
07/2024
Built a tool with Dr. David Mimno to compare LLM vocabularies. Check it out at token-board.chaozhang.design
06/2024
"See, Hear, Touch, Smell, and,...Eat." received a Best Short Paper Award at IDC '24.
05/2024
Attending CHI '24.
01/2024
"Mathemyths" and "Wrist-bound Guanxi, Jiazu, and Kuolie" conditionally accepted to CHI '24.
09/2023
"From Awareness to Action: Exploring End-User Empowerment Interventions for Dark Patterns in UX" accepted to CSCW '24.
06/2023
Starting my Ph.D. at Cornell this fall.
03/2023
"Observe It, Draw It: Scaffolding Children's Observations of Plant Biodiversity with an Interactive Drawing Tool" accepted to IDC '23.
01/2023
"What Makes Creators Engage with Online Critiques? Understanding the Role of Artifacts' Creation Stage, Characteristics of Community Comments, and their Interactions" accepted to CHI '23.
01/2023
"MathKingdom: Teaching Children Mathematical Language Through Speaking at Home via a Voice-Guided Game" accepted to CHI '23.
01/2023
"MechCircuit: Augmenting Laser-Cut Objects with Integrated Electronics, Mechanical Structures and Magnets" accepted to CHI '23.
08/2022
"SSpoon: A Shape-changing Spoon That Optimizes Bite Size For Eating Rate Regulation" accepted to IMWUT '22.
07/2022
Started research internship in HCI group @ HKUST with Prof. Xiaojuan Ma.
06/2022
Working with Prof. Toby Jia-jun Li in SaNDwich Lab @ NDCSE.
03/2022
Presented "StoryDrawer: A Child-AI Collaborative Drawing System to Support Children's Creative Visual Storytelling" at CHI '22.
11/2022
First first-authored paper "StoryDrawer: A Child-AI Collaborative Drawing System to Support Children's Creative Visual Storytelling" conditionally accepted to CHI '22.
11/2022
Design works "Silent Delivery" and "To Life" exhibited at 2022 Dubai Design Week.
Chao Zhang
Ph.D. Student & HCI Researcher @ Cornell
I build AI systems that keep humans thinking.
I am a fourth-year Ph.D. student in the Bowers School of Computing and Information Science at Cornell University. I am fortunate to be advised by Professors Abe Davis and Jeff Rzeszotarski. During my Ph.D., I interned at Google DeepMind, Adobe Research and Microsoft Research.
My research lies in technical human-computer interaction (HCI) with an emphasis on tools for thought. I study, design, and build AI systems with useful friction for thoughtful human-AI interaction. As AI makes it increasingly easy to automate complex tasks, seamless automation can bypass cognitive processes that play critical roles in how we develop understanding, judgment, and new skills. I investigate how to intentionally introduce what I call useful friction, or cognitive effort with valuable downstream or indirect benefits, into human-AI interaction while preserving the benefits of AI automation.
For example, my work explores different forms of useful friction that help people critically examine their own decision-making processes, particularly through the lens of unconscious bias (e.g., Interactive Explainable Ranking), remain actively engaged in reflection rather than defaulting to convenient AI answers (e.g., Friction), and contribute creative input to exercise greater control over human-AI co-creation (e.g., Narrative Keyframing).
My work has been published at top-tier HCI venues, including CHI, UIST, and CSCW. My first-author papers have received Best Paper awards at CHI ’26 and CSCW ’24. My projects have also received international design awards, including the Red Dot Award, iF Design Award, A’ Design Award, and James Dyson Award, and have been featured at notable events, including Dubai Design Week and the China Design Exhibition. My research has also received international media coverage from outlets such as Nautilus, Digital Trends, Numerama, and Infobae.
NEWS
07/2026
Serving as an AC for CHI '27.
07/2026
"Narrative Keyframking" and "Malleable Prompting" conditionally accepted to UIST '26.
03/2026
"Interactive Explainable Ranking" received a Best Paper Award at CHI '26.
01/2026
"IER," "EvaluAId," and "Narrix" conditionally accepted to CHI '26.
01/2026
Serving as an AC for IDC '26.
01/2026
Joining Google DeepMind as a student researcher in Mountain View.
07/2025
"Synthia: Visually Interpreting and Synthesizing Feedback for Writing Revision" conditionally accepted to UIST '25.
06/2025
"Hey Curio, Can You Tell Me More?": Children's Information-Seeking and Trust in AI" received a Best Short Paper Award at IDC '25.
05/2025
Joining Adobe Research as a research intern in San Jose.
05/2025
"Navigating the Fog: How University Students Recalibrate Sensemaking Practices to Address Plausible Falsehoods in LLM Outputs" accepted to CUI '25.
03/2025
Joining Microsoft Office of Applied Research as a research intern remotely.
01/2025
"Friction: Deciphering Writing Feedback into Writing Revisions through LLM-Assisted Reflection" conditionally accepted to CHI '25.
01/2025
Three papers "BrickSmart", "CharacterCritique", and "DiSandbox" conditionally accepted to CHI '25.
11/2024
"From Awareness to Action: Exploring End-User Empowerment Interventions for Dark Patterns in UX" received a Best Paper Award at CSCW '24.
07/2024
Built a tool with Dr. David Mimno to compare LLM vocabularies. Check it out at token-board.chaozhang.design
06/2024
"See, Hear, Touch, Smell, and,...Eat." received a Best Short Paper Award at IDC '24.
05/2024
Attending CHI '24.
01/2024
"Mathemyths" and "Wrist-bound Guanxi, Jiazu, and Kuolie" conditionally accepted to CHI '24.
09/2023
"From Awareness to Action: Exploring End-User Empowerment Interventions for Dark Patterns in UX" accepted to CSCW '24.
06/2023
Starting my Ph.D. at Cornell this fall.
03/2023
"Observe It, Draw It: Scaffolding Children's Observations of Plant Biodiversity with an Interactive Drawing Tool" accepted to IDC '23.
01/2023
"What Makes Creators Engage with Online Critiques? Understanding the Role of Artifacts' Creation Stage, Characteristics of Community Comments, and their Interactions" accepted to CHI '23.
01/2023
"MathKingdom: Teaching Children Mathematical Language Through Speaking at Home via a Voice-Guided Game" accepted to CHI '23.
01/2023
"MechCircuit: Augmenting Laser-Cut Objects with Integrated Electronics, Mechanical Structures and Magnets" accepted to CHI '23.
08/2022
"SSpoon: A Shape-changing Spoon That Optimizes Bite Size For Eating Rate Regulation" accepted to IMWUT '22.
07/2022
Started research internship in HCI group @ HKUST with Prof. Xiaojuan Ma.
06/2022
Working with Prof. Toby Jia-jun Li in SaNDwich Lab @ NDCSE.
03/2022
Presented "StoryDrawer: A Child-AI Collaborative Drawing System to Support Children's Creative Visual Storytelling" at CHI '22.
11/2022
First first-authored paper "StoryDrawer: A Child-AI Collaborative Drawing System to Support Children's Creative Visual Storytelling" conditionally accepted to CHI '22.
11/2022
Design works "Silent Delivery" and "To Life" exhibited at 2022 Dubai Design Week.
Publication
* denotes equal contribution
