| Title | : | Human-Centric AI Guidance for Visual Analytics |
| Speaker | : | Arpit Narechania (Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST)) |
| Details | : | Tue, 26 Aug, 2025 3:30 PM @ MR1 |
| Abstract: | : | Abstract: Given the scale and complexity of today's datasets, people face a critical challenge during visual data analysis: an overwhelming number of decisions. These decisions—about what, where, when, and how to visualize data—directly influence the quality of the analysis process and outcomes. For example, a user must decide which attributes to visualize, whether to apply filters, or which chart type best represents the data. While AI-powered tools are increasingly available to assist with these decisions, current support often lacks the human-centric adaptability and transparency that users need, leading to biased interpretations, missed insights, and flawed conclusions. In this talk, I will showcase guidance-enriched visual analytics tools where AI-powered systems and human users collaboratively “guide” each other during analysis. Specifically, I will demonstrate how guidance can (1) help data analysts increase awareness of biased and unbiased analytic behaviors, (2) enable data engineers to interactively debug AI-powered natural language to SQL workflows, (3) assist researchers in efficiently finding relevant literature, and (4) support mapmakers in creating accurate and trustworthy maps. In doing so, I will illustrate how human-centric AI enhances human decision-making as well as system learning, championing the vital and inevitable collaboration between humans and AI today.
Bio: Arpit Narechania is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering (CSE) at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST). He received his PhD in Computer Science from Georgia Institute of Technology, USA and BS (B.Tech.) in Mechanical Engineering from Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Mandi, India. Prior to academia, Arpit was a founding engineer at multiple startups in the FinTech and EdTech sectors, where he worked on projects to improve financial inclusion in India, optimize US stock market investments, and enhance middle school physics education. He has also contributed to digital governance initiatives for the Government of India. As an academic now, Arpit's main research interests are in visual analytics, human-computer interaction (HCI), and artificial intelligence (AI), with particular focus on 'catalyzing' human-AI collaboration, as part of which he builds interactive tools and fosters conducive environments that actively enhance the way humans and AI work together. He has collaborated with industry leaders such as Adobe Research, Microsoft Research, Ford Motor Company, and Alibaba.com, leading interdisciplinary projects that have resulted in multiple patents, publications, product integrations, and open-source releases. For more info, checkout https://narechania.com. |
