Automating the Path: An R&D Agenda for Visualization in Human-Centered AI
Date and time: 23 January 2025, 13:00-14:00
Speaker: Niklas Elmqvist, Aarhus University
Title: Automating the Path: An R&D Agenda for Visualization in Human-Centered AI
Where: Digital Futures hub, Osquars Backe 5, floor 2 at KTH main campus OR Zoom
Directions: https://www.digitalfutures.kth.se/contact/how-to-get-here/
OR
Zoom: https://kth-se.zoom.us/j/69560887455
Host: Mario Romero, marior@kth.se
Registration required (first come first service): https://www.kth.se/form/673b0ad63fd5d8d4c12c9a0a
Abstract: The emergence of generative AI, large language models (LLMs), and foundation models is fundamentally reshaping computer science, and visualization and visual analytics are no exception.
In this talk, I will present a systematic framework for understanding how human-centered AI (HCAI) can transform the visualization discipline. This framework maps four key HCAI tool capabilities—amplify, augment, empower, and enhance—onto the four phases of visual sensemaking: view, explore, schematize, and report.
For each combination, I will discuss existing research, envision future possibilities, identify challenges and pitfalls, and examine ethical considerations. This design space can serve as an R&D agenda for both visualization researchers and practitioners to integrate AI into their work while preserving both human agency and analytical rigor as well as understanding how visualization can support HCAI research.
Bio: Niklas Elmqvist (he/him/his) is a Villum Investigator, a Fellow of the IEEE, and a full professor in the Department of Computer Science at Aarhus University. He received his Ph.D. in computer science in 2006 from Chalmers University in Sweden. Prior to joining Aarhus, he was faculty at University of Maryland in College Park, MD, USA from 2014 to 2023, and at Purdue University in West Lafayette, IN, USA from 2008 to 2014.
From 2016 to 2021, he served as the director of the Human-Computer Interaction Laboratory (HCIL) at University of Maryland. His research area is data visualization, human-computer interaction, and visual analytics. He is the recipient of Villum Investigator and NSF CAREER grants. He was papers chair for IEEE InfoVis 2016, 2017, and 2020, subcommittee chair for ACM CHI 2020 and 2021, and Overall Papers Chair for IEEE VIS 2024 and 2025. Finally, he is a member of the ACM SIGCHI Executive Committee as Adjunct Chair for Awards and an elected member of the IEEE Visualization Steering Committee, both since 2023.
He is the recipient of the Purdue Student Government Graduate Mentoring Award (2014), the Ruth and Joel Spira Outstanding Teacher Award (2012), and the Purdue ECE Chicago Alumni New Faculty award (2010). He was inducted into the IEEE VGTC Visualization Academy in 2024. He was elevated to IEEE Fellow in 2024 and ACM Distinguished Scientist in 2018.