CMU Launches Human-Centered AI Research Center with Seoul National University

April 18, 2025

Carnegie Mellon University and Seoul National University (SNU) have announced a new collaboration to advance human-centered artificial intelligence research that prioritizes human well-being, accessibility and social responsibility.

The SNU-CMU Human-Centered AI Research Center (HCAI) aims to pioneer innovative AI solutions by combining interdisciplinary expertise in human-centered design.

“We’re excited to officially launch this partnership with our colleagues at Seoul National University,” said Laura Dabbish, professor in the Human-Computer Interaction Institute at Carnegie Mellon University’s School of Computer Science. “The groundwork for the center began two years ago with workshops that brought together students and faculty from both universities. We’re now building on that foundation to reimagine how AI can support human connection, empower individuals and enhance everyday life. Together, we’re creating a global model for AI innovation that’s rooted in human needs and values.”

So far, the researchers have hosted on-site workshops at both campuses, and met again while attending the same conference. HCII faculty David Lindlbauer and John Stamper participated in the HCAI Center’s official opening ceremony on February 13, 2025, at the SNU campus in Seoul, South Korea. Attendees discussed the vision for the center, upcoming research initiatives and opportunities for joint projects.

"The Human-Centered AI Research Center brings together the best of Seoul National University and Carnegie Mellon University to advance AI that serves humanity,” said Gahgene Gweon, associate professor in the SNU Department of Intelligence and Information and HCII Ph.D. alumna. “By combining SNU’s leading role in AI innovation across Asia with CMU’s excellence in interdisciplinary and human-centered AI, we are pioneering research that makes AI more ethical, intuitive and impactful for society." 

One of the center’s first research collaborations has already achieved major recognition at the Association of Computing Machinery (ACM) Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI). The joint SNU-CMU paper, “Letters from Future Self: Augmenting the Letter-Exchange Exercise with LLM-based Future Self Agents to Enhance Young Adults’ Career Exploration,” was accepted to CHI 2025 and honored with a Best Paper award, an accolade reserved for the top 1% of submissions. The project explored how large language models (LLMs) can support young adults in imagining their futures through guided career exploration activities, such as writing reflective letters to themselves or exchanging chats or letters with an LLM-based agent for advice. This work explores the capabilities of LLM-based conversational AI agents to simulate specific characters and provide tailored responses, while responding with personalized interventions in self-guided contexts.

“Researchers at CMU and SNU have a shared interest in how Agentic AI offers a new type of social intelligence that might allow agents to operate in complex interpersonal relationships,” said John Zimmerman, Tang Family Professor of Artificial Intelligence and Human-Computer Interaction at CMU and co-author on the paper. “We want to explore how agents could and should operate between older parents and their adult children, between teens and parents, and between bosses and teams. When does the agent add value, and when has it crossed a social boundary?”

CMU and SNU have four joint research projects in the works for 2025. Each project brings together interdisciplinary teams of faculty and students from both institutions to advance ethical, people-centered AI. These projects explore key challenges in AI, including: 

• how AI can support teamwork in programming with faculty leads Stamper and Carolyn Rosé of CMU, and Gweon of SNU
• enhancing interactive problem-solving with Nikolas Martelaro and Scott Hudson of CMU and Joonhwan Lee of SNU
• detecting societal bias in vision-language models with Motahhare Eslami, Ken Holstein, Hong Shen, Adam Perer, Jason Hong of CMU and Gunhee Kim and Eunkyu Park of SNU
• and assisting older adults through socially intelligent agents with Zimmerman and Jodi Forlizzi of CMU, and Hajin Lim and Eunmee Kim of SNU.

Additional HCAI activities slated for this year will include research workshops, student internships and faculty and student visits between the campuses.

More details about the center are available on its website.