Steeven Villa

Agnes M. Kloft, Robin Welsch, Thomas Kosch et al.

Heightened AI expectations facilitate performance in human-AI interactions through placebo effects. While lowering expectations to control for placebo effects is advisable, overly negative expectations could induce nocebo effects. In a letter discrimination task, we informed participants that an AI would either increase or decrease their performance by adapting the interface, but in reality, no AI was present in any condition. A Bayesian analysis showed that participants had high expectations and performed descriptively better irrespective of the AI description when a sham-AI was present. Using cognitive modeling, we could trace this advantage back to participants gathering more information. A replication study verified that negative AI descriptions do not alter expectations, suggesting that performance expectations with AI are biased and robust to negative verbal descriptions. We discuss the impact of user expectations on AI interactions and evaluation and provide a behavioral placebo marker for human-AI interaction

Steeven Villa, Abdallah El Ali

The Augmented Human vision broadly seeks to improve or expand baseline human functioning through the restoration or extension of physical, intellectual, and social capabilities. However, given the rapid pace of technology development, we ask: what exactly does Augmented Human research involve, what are its core themes, and how has the Augmented Human(s) conference series evolved over time? To answer this, we conducted a scientometric analysis on the past 15 years of the Augmented Human(s) conference (N=735 paper), focusing on: geographical aspects, submissions and citation timelines, author frequency and popularity, and topic modeling. We find that: (a) Number of papers in the conference exhibit a bimodal distribution, peaking in 2015 and 2025, but showing periods of stagnant growth; (b) key topics over time include Haptics, Wearable Sensing, Vision & Eye Tracking, Embodied Interaction, and Sports / Motion; (c) some seminal papers on AH are not published in AH(s), but rather at related venues (e.g., CHI); (d) the conference has an active Japanese HCI community despite its historical Eurocentric location dominance. We contribute a closer look at the trajectory of the AH(s) field, and raise considerations of definitional and research scope ambiguities given the core problems/enhancements the field seeks to address.

Jieying Zhang, Steeven Villa, Abdallah El Ali

Advances in generative AI, speech synthesis, and embodied avatars enable systems that not only assist communication, but can act as proxies on users' behalf. Prior work in HCI has largely focused on systems as external tools, with less attention paid to the experiential consequences of users' speech and actions becoming assimilated with AI-generated output. We introduce the design and implementation of ProxyMe, a work-in-progress VR prototype that allows users to embody an avatar whose voice and spoken content are modified by an AI system. By combining avatar-based embodiment, voice cloning, and AI-mediated speech augmentation, ProxyMe invites the exploration of avatar self-extension: situations in which AI-modified communication is experienced as part of one's own expressive behavior. We chart out research challenges and envisioned scenarios, with a focus on how varying degrees of delegation and steerability can influence perceived agency, authorship, and self-identification.