Bhada Yun

I'm a master's student at ETH Zürich studying Machine Intelligence and Visual and Interactive Computing. My research is supervised by Prof. Dr. Mennatallah El-Assady and Prof. Dr. April Yi Wang. Previously, I completed my bachelor's degree in Computer Science at University of California, Berkeley.

My work broadly focuses on human-AI interaction, where I develop systems and empirically evaluate how the integration of AI affects stakeholders across various domains. I have ongoing projects exploring AI for creativity, learning, and self-actualization. I am cautiously optimistic about the future, and want to understand how technology can support human agency and purpose, beyond just productivity.

I'm particularly interested in AI phenomenology: how humans perceive, make sense of, and relate to AI systems. As autonomous systems grow more inscrutable and exhibit capabilities that exceed human intuition, I believe mental models (e.g., the implicit concepts people carry regarding AI) will become one of the most critical human factors shaping interaction, and I aim to contribute to this research agenda.

硏 /jʌn/ to polish
stone grinded till even
究 /ku/ to research
a group investigating a cave

AI and My Values: User Perceptions of LLMs' Ability to Extract, Embody, and Explain Human Values from Casual Conversations

Published in CHI '26 · 🏅 Honorable Mention Award

Bhada Yun, Renn Su, April Yi Wang

20 people texted a chatbot for a month about their daily lives. The AI built profiles of their values, then explained its reasoning in a 2-hour interview. 13 participants left convinced the AI truly understood them.

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Does My Chatbot Have an Agenda? Understanding Human and AI Agency in Human-Human-like Chatbot Interaction

Published in CHI '26 · 🏅 Honorable Mention Award

Bhada Yun, Evgenia Taranova, April Yi Wang

22 adults chatted with Day, our AI companion, for a month. Who decided when to greet, change topics, or say goodbye? Participants thought they were in control, but the AI was quietly steering depth and breadth.

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From Junior to Senior: Allocating Agency and Navigating Professional Growth in Agentic AI–Mediated Software Engineering

Published in CHI '26 · 🏅 Honorable Mention Award

Dana Feng*, Bhada Yun*, April Yi Wang

Juniors code with AI from day one. Seniors learned the hard way, then adapted. We studied both through debugging tasks and interviews, comparing how they delegate to agentic tools like Cursor.

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AI Phenomenology for Understanding Human-AI Experiences Across Eras

Accepted Workshop Paper at CHI '26

Bhada Yun, Evgenia Taranova, Dana Feng, Renn Su, April Yi Wang

We believe that the question of "how did it feel interacting with the AI" is just as important as "what is the usability of the system?" We trace a philosophical lineage from Husserl through postphenomenology to Actor-Network Theory, providing a methodological throughline through three HAI papers.

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Generative AI in Knowledge Work: Design Implications for Data Navigation and Decision-Making

Published in CHI '25 · 🏅 Honorable Mention Award

Bhada Yun*, Dana Feng*, Ace Chen, Afshin Nikzad, Niloufar Salehi

Product managers drown in scattered information across platforms, so we built Yodeai to help them synthesize it all. 16 PMs tested it for real decisions. They praised the adaptability and control, but hit limits: overreliance, isolation, and blind spots AI couldn't see.

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Wrapped in Anansi's Web: Unweaving the Impacts of Generative-AI Personalization and VR Immersion in Oral Storytelling

Published in AH '25 (Augmented Humans)

Carrie Lau, Bhada Yun, Samuel Saruba, Efe Bozkir, Enkelejda Kasneci

We built a VR experience of Ghanaian Anansi folktales with AI-driven personalization to preserve oral traditions. 48 participants tried it. VR boosted their cultural interest as expected, but the AI personalization did something unexpected: it turned their focus inward, sparking self-reflection more than cultural learning.

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You can find me on LinkedIn or bhayun@ethz.ch.