Anna Kawakami

I study people + AI + policy to design towards positive futures for AI-augmented work.

Passions

I want to normalize expertise-driven approaches to AI–that is, AI design, evaluation, and governance approaches grounded in an understanding of human expertise, including how it is (and should be) conceptualized, measured, and accounted-for with respect to AI capabilities. Towards this, I use mixed methods to study the design, use, and impacts of AI tools in complex, real-world domains like social work. While addressing model- and interface-level design challenges, I aim to consider the impacts of and on organizational structures and incentives to contextualize our understanding of what expertise-driven AI might look like in practice, and how to design tools, processes, and policies that help us get there.

I care deeply about extending research to have non-negative real-world impact. My aspiration is to produce knowledge and approaches that can easily be transferred to support relevant community members, policymakers, technology practitioners, and researchers. Findings from my recent research has contributed to national and state-level policy efforts surrounding the use of algorithms in the public sector, and has prompted relevant public discourse through news coverage by AP News, NPR, PBS News, and others.

My ongoing research re-formulates measurement in AI as a participatory design problem, and explores how to build systems and processes that support it. I'd love to talk with anyone interested in this or related topics!

Positions

I am a fourth-year PhD student in the Human-Computer Interaction Institute at Carnegie Mellon University's School of Computer Science, where I am fortunate to be co-advised by Ken Holstein (CoALA Lab) and Haiyi Zhu (Social AI Lab). I am a NSF GRFP Fellow, K&L Gates Presidential Fellow, and CASMI PhD Fellow. Before starting my PhD, I was at Wellesley College, a historically women's liberal arts college, where I graduated with a BA in Computer Science (with honors) and was awarded the Trustee Scholarship and Academic Excellence Award in Computer Science.

In prior summers, I was a research intern at Microsoft Research FATE (Fairness, Accountability, Transparency, and Ethics in AI) NYC (2023) and Montréal (2022). During my undergraduate years, I also contributed to Microsoft's Responsible AI efforts as an undergraduate research intern at Microsoft Research Aether (AI Ethics and Effects in Engineering and Research). I also did research and studied abroad at Oxford University.

You can find more information in my CV.

Research

Journal and Conference Publications

^{* denotes equal contribution}

2024

“AI Failure Loops in Feminized Labor: Understanding the Interplay of Workplace AI and Occupational Devaluation”
Anna Kawakami, Jordan Taylor, Sarah Fox, Haiyi Zhu, and Kenneth Holstein. To appear in AAAI/ACM Conference on Artificial Intelligence, Ethics, and Society, AIES 2024. Non-archival.

“Do Responsible AI Artifacts Help Advance Stakeholder Goals? Perspectives from Regulatory and Civil Perspectives”
Anna Kawakami, Daricia Wilkinson, and Alex Chouldechova. To appear in AAAI/ACM Conference on Artificial Intelligence, Ethics, and Society, AIES 2024.

“Studying Up Public Sector AI: How Networks of Power Relations Shape Agency Decisions Around AI Design and Use”
Anna Kawakami, Amanda Coston, Hoda Heidari, Kenneth Holstein, and Haiyi Zhu.. In ACM SIGCHI Conference on Computer-Supportive Cooperative Work & Social Computing, CSCW 2024. Also in EAAMO 2023 (non-archival). [preprint]

“The Situate AI Guidebook: Co-Designing a Toolkit to Support Multi-Stakeholder, Early-stage Deliberations Around Public Sector AI Proposals”
Anna Kawakami, Amanda Coston, Haiyi Zhu, Hoda Heidari, and Kenneth Holstein. In ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, CHI 2024. [paper] [slides] [tweet]

2023

“Training Towards Critical Use: Learning to Situate AI Predictions Relative to Human Knowledge”
Anna Kawakami, Luke Guerdan, Yanghuidi Cheng, Kate Glazko, Matthew Lee, Scott Carter, Nikos Arechiga, Haiyi Zhu and Kenneth Holstein. In ACM Conference on Collective Intelligence, CI 2023. [paper]

“Sensing Wellbeing in the Workplace, Why and For Whom? Envisioning Impacts with Organizational Stakeholders”
Anna Kawakami, Shreya Chowdhary, Shamsi T. Iqbal, Q. Vera Liao, Alexandra Olteanu, Jina Suh, Koustuv Saha. InACM SIGCHI Conference on Computer-Supportive Cooperative Work & Social Computing, CSCW 2023. [paper] [tweet]

“Can Workers Meaningfully Consent to Workplace Wellbeing Technologies?”
Shreya Chowdhary, Anna Kawakami, Mary L. Gray, Jina Suh, Alexandra Olteanu, Koustuv Saha. In Proceedings of the ACM Conference on Fairness, Accountability, and Transparency, FAccT 2023. [paper] [video] [tweet]

“A Validity Perspective on Evaluating the Justified Use of Data-driven Decision-making Algorithms”
Amanda Coston, Anna Kawakami, Haiyi Zhu, Kenneth Holstein, Hoda Heidari. In IEEE Conference on Secure and Trustworthy Machine Learning, IEEE SaTML 2023. [paper] [video]
Best Paper Award (Top 1%)

2022

“'Why Do I Care What's Similar?' Probing Challenges in AI-Assisted Child Welfare Decision-Making through Worker-AI Interface Design Concepts”
Anna Kawakami*, Venkat Sivaraman*, Logan Stapleton, Hao-Fei Cheng, Adam Perer, Steven Wu, Haiyi Zhu, Kenneth Holstein. In ACM Conference on Designing Interactive Systems, DIS 2022. [paper] [video] [preview]

“Improving Human-AI Partnerships in Child Welfare: Understanding Worker Practices, Challenges, and Desires for Algorithmic Decision Support.”
Anna Kawakami, Venkat Sivaraman, Hao-Fei Cheng, Logan Stapleton, Yang Cheng, Diana Qing, Adam Perer, Steven Wu, Haiyi Zhu, Kenneth Holstein. In ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, CHI 2022. [paper] [video] [preview]
Best Paper Honorable Mention Award (Top 5%)

“How Child Welfare Workers Reduce Racial Disparities in Algorithmic Decisions.”
Hao-Fei Cheng*, Logan Stapleton*, Anna Kawakami, Venkat Sivaraman, Yang Cheng, Diana Qing, Adam Perer, Steven Wu, Haiyi Zhu, Kenneth Holstein. In ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, CHI 2022. [paper] [video]

2020

“The 'Fairness Doctrine' lives on? Theorizing about the Algorithmic News Curation of Google's Top Stories”
Anna Kawakami, Khonzoda Umarova, Jennifer Huang, Eni Mustafaraj. In ACM Conference on Hypertext and Social Media, HT 2020. [paper]

“The Media Coverage of the 2020 US Presidential Election Candidates through the Lens of Google’s Top Stories.”
Anna Kawakami, Khonzoda Umarova, Eni Mustafaraj. In International AAAI Conference on Web and Social Media, ICWSM 2020. [paper]

“Privacy and Activism in the Transgender Community.”
Ada Lerner, Helen He, Anna Kawakami, Silvia Zeamer, Roberto Hoyle. In ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, CHI 2020. [paper]

“How Risky are Real Users’ IFTTT Applets?”
Camille Cobb, Milijana Surbatovich, Anna Kawakami, Mahmood Sharif, Lujo Bauer, Limin Jia. In Sixteenth Symposium on Usable Security and Privacy, SOUPS 2020. [paper]

Workshops Organized

“Labor, Visbility, and Technology: Weaving Together Academic Insights and On-Ground Realities” Joy Ming, Lucy Pei, Devansh Saxena, Rama Adithya Varanasi, Anna Kawakami, Nervo Verdezoto, EunJeong Cheon. Workshop at the ACM Conference on Computer-Supported Cooperative Work and Social Computing, CSCW 2024. [preprint] [website]

“Community-driven AI: Empowering people through responsible data-driven decision-making.” Ruyuan Wan, Adriana Alvarado Garcia, Devansh Saxena, Catalina Vajiac, Anna Kawakami, Logan Stapleton, Kenneth Holstein, Heloisa Candello, Karla Badillo-Urquiola. Workshop at the ACM Conference on Computer-Supported Cooperative Work and Social Computing, CSCW 2023. [paper] [website]

“Who Has an Interest in 'Public Interest Technology'? Critical Questions for Working with Local Governments & Impacted Communities.”
Logan Stapleton, Devansh Saxena, Anna Kawakami, Tonya Nguyen, Asbjørn Ammitzbøll Flügge, Motahhare Eslami, Naja Holten Møller, Min Kyung Lee, Shion Guha, Kenneth Holstein, Haiyi Zhu. Workshop at the ACM Conference on Computer-Supported Cooperative Work and Social Computing, CSCW 2022. [paper] [website]

Workshop and Poster Papers

“Towards Successful Deployment of Wellbeing Sensing Technologies: Identifying Misalignments across Contextual Boundaries.”
Jina Suh, Javier Hernandez Rivera, Koustuv Saha, Kathy Dixon, Mehrab Bin Morshed, Esther Howe, Anna Kawakami, Mary Czerwinski. In Workshop on Affective Computing for Mental Wellbeing at the Conference of the Association for the Advancement of Affective Computings, ACII 2023. [short paper]

“Recentering Validity Considerations through Early-Stage Deliberations Around AI and Policy Design”
Anna Kawakami, Amanda Costosn, Haiyi Zhu, Hoda Heidari, Kenneth Holstein. In Workshop on Designing Policy and Technology Simultaneously at the ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, CHI 2023. [short paper]

“A Validity Perspective on Evaluating the Justified Use of Data-driven Decision-making Algorithms.”
Amanda Coston, Anna Kawakami, Haiyi Zhu, Kenneth Holstein, Hoda Heidari. In ACM Conference on Equity and Access in Algorithms, Mechanisms, and Optimization, EAAMO 2022. [preprint]

“Towards a Learner-Centered Explainable AI.”
Anna Kawakami, Luke Guerdan, Yanghuidi Cheng, Anita Sun, Alison Hu, Kate Glazko, Nikos Arechiga, Matthew Lee, Scott Carter, Haiyi Zhu and Kenneth Holstein. In Workshop on Human-Centered Explainable AI (HCXAI) at the ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, CHI 2022. [short paper]

Other Writing and Reports

“AI Reliability & Safety: Practices and Challenges at Microsoft.”
Anna Kawakami, Mihaela Vorvoreanu, Ben Zorn, Nathan Liles, Ece Kamar. Microsoft-internal technical report, 2021.

“The News We See When Searching: Exploring Users’ Mental Models of Google’s Top Stories.”
Anna Kawakami. Senior honors thesis, 2021.

Resources

Resources others have created that I found helpful when applying to grad school. All credits go to their respective owners.

For applying to grad school: Emma Lurie’s Aspirational Grad School Timeline.
I didn’t follow this exactly but it was a good frame of reference. Also many HCI / I-School and CS PhD programs removed the GRE requirement in the past year. It could make sense to make a list of programs you'd definitely be excited to attend before studying for the GRE (maybe you'll find you don't need to take it, like me!).
For navigating undergraduate research: Emma Lurie's Tips for Working with an Undergraduate Research Advisor.
Every lab is different but this guide is spot-on for Eni's Wellesley Cred Lab. I like to read through the common scenarios for validation.
For finding potential advisors: Eric Gilbert’s Syllabus for Eric's PhD students.
I especially like the sections on Ideas and Doing research. He also links an awesome PhD meeting agenda template that I ~aspire~ to follow.

For getting feedback on application materials: Jia-Bin Huang's Twitter thread on student-led pre-application programs for supporting PhD students.
If you're interested in Carnegie Mellon's HCI PhD program (or any other CS-related PhD program at CMU), you could get feedback on your application materials from a wonderful team of PhD student volunteers: Graduate Application Support Program.

... and several more resources, that I will add later.

If you think there’s anything I can help with, please don't hesitate to email me directly!

Celebratory news

Celebratory news about myself made possible through the support of several excellent peers, mentors, and advisors.

Nov 2023 Attending ACM Collective Intelligence / AAAI HCOMP in Delft, Netherlands to present our work on training workers to use AI-assisted decision-making tools!
Oct 2023 Excited to present talks at EAAMO 2023 and Wellesley College during my trip to Boston.
Oct 2023 Looking forward to attending CSCW 2023 in Minneapolis to present my internship work and co-organize our workshop on community-driven AI.
June 2023 Relocating to NYC to join Microsoft Research FATE as a research intern! Really grateful for the opportunity to work with Alex Chouldechova and Daricia Wilkinson.
March 2023 Honored to be awarded the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship.
Feb 2023 Very excited to present our paper at the first SaTML (Secure and Trustworthy Machine Learning) Conference, held in Raleigh, North Carolina! Congratulations to Amanda Coston, who led this work, and to Haiyi Zhu, Ken Holstein, and Hoda Heidari for the best paper award.
Nov 2022 Honored to be one of three doctoral students awarded the 2023 K&L Gates Presidential Fellowship in Ethics and Computational Technologies at Carnegie Mellon University.
Oct 2022 Extremely excited to attend the 2022 INFORMS (The Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences) Annual Meeting for the first time! Giving a talk with Luke Guerdan on Understanding Human-AI Decision-making in the Real-world: From Observational Studies to Theoretical Models.
Oct 2022 One of 50 researchers invited to attend the International Symposium of Augmented Intelligence at Work in Hanover, Germany! Thank you to folks at University of Cambridge, the RWTH Aachen University, and the Volkswagen Stiftung for hosting.
May 2022 Ecstatic to join Microsoft Research FATE in Montréal as a research intern! Really looking forward to working with Koustuv Saha, Vera Liao, Alexandra Olteanu, Jina Suh, and Shamsi Iqbal.
May 2022 Presenting research and attending workshops at CHI 2022 in New Orleans, Louisiana - my first in-person conference!
April 2022 First workshop paper acceptances! Excited to be attending CHI 2022's Workshop on Human-Centered Explainable AI (HCXAI) and Workshop on Trust and Reliance in AI-Human Teams (TRAIT).
Jan 2022 Two papers accepted to CHI '22!
Sept 2021 Started my PhD at Carnegie Mellon University!
June 2021 Passed and submitted my senior honors thesis, with Profs. Eni Mustafaraj, Takis Metaxas, Orit Shaer, and Pinar Keskin on my thesis committee!
June 2021 Graduated from Wellesley College!
June 2021 Awarded the Academic Excellence Award, voted by the Wellesley Computer Science Department faculty!
May 2021 Nominated into Sigma Xi Scientific Honor Society by a Wellesley faculty!
April 2021 Awarded the Trustee Scholarship, voted by the Wellesley College Board of Trustees!
Sept 2020 Started my senior honors thesis at Wellesley College with Prof. Eni Mustafaraj as my advisor!
July 2020 Presented our research, in collaboration with Khonzoda Umarova Jennifer Huang, and Prof. Eni Mustafaraj, at HT 2020!
June 2020 Presented our research and dataset, in collaboration with Khonzoda Umarova and Prof. Eni Mustafaraj, at ICWSM 2020!
June 2020 Started my research internship virtually at Microsoft Research! I am excited to be working with Drs. Ece Kamar, Ben Zorn, and Mihaela Vorvoreanu in responsible AI (Aether)!
Dec 2020 Our paper, in collaboration with Prof. Ada Lerner, Silvia Zeamer, Helen He, and Prof. Roberto Hoyle, on transgender security and privacy is accepted to CHI 2020!
Sept 2019 Arrived in the UK to start my year abroad at Oxford University!
June 2020 Started Carnegie Mellon's REU in Software Engineering, with Drs. Lujo Bauer and Limin Jia as my co-advisors!