Bhada Yun

I'm a Direct Doctorate 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 the ways in which the integration of AI affects stakeholders across various domains. For example, I researched how knowledge workers (e.g., product managers, journalists) use AI to support their data navigation and decision-making needs, as well as how agentic systems are transforming the junior-to-senior pipeline in software engineering.

I'm particularly interested in AI phenomenology, having published studies on how people perceive and co-construct agency when interacting with their chatbots, as well as how they assess an AI's attempt to construct a representation of their personal human values. I aim to contribute to a growing body of research investigating mental models as key human factors in interactions with AI, especially as autonomous systems become increasingly post-human into the future.

硏 /jʌn/ to polish
stone grinded till even
究 구 /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

To appear in CHI '26

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... until we revealed the mechanics behind its 'empathy.'

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

To appear in CHI '26

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. After revealing Day's strategies in interviews, we learned that agency isn't owned: it's negotiated, turn by turn.

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

To appear in CHI '26

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. The gap isn't just skill, it's a completely different relationship with control, learning, and what it means to be a programmer.

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

Published in CHI '25 · Honorable Mention Award (Top 5%)

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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For collaborations, reach out to me on LinkedIn or bhayun@ethz.ch.