Michael Bernstein @mbernst.bsky.social · 30/01/2026Empirical evidence that people can build highly predictive mental models of even complex AIs, if and only if the algorithm fulfills three criteria: 0133
Michael Bernstein @mbernst.bsky.social · 03/12/2025CSCW folks, I wanted to highlight how excited and proud I am to see work from our community (dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/..., CSCW '24 best paper winner led by @jiachenyan.bsky.social and @mlam.bsky.social) grow and expand ambition into this Science paper. CSCW has a ton to offer the world. 0265
Reposted by Michael BernsteinSamidh @samidh.bsky.social · 03/12/2025This was such a cool experiment that I created a Zentropi labeler with a simplified version of the authors' Partisan Animosity criteria. Now anyone can experiment directly with using this labeler to try to reduce the temperature of affective polarization in their feeds. zentropi.ai/labelers/b30...science.orgReranking partisan animosity in algorithmic social media feeds alters affective polarizationToday, social media platforms hold the sole power to study the effects of feed-ranking algorithms. We developed a platform-independent method that reranks participants’ feeds in real time and used thi... 092
Reposted by Michael BernsteinMartin Saveski @msaveski.bsky.social · 01/12/2025New paper in Science: In a platform-independent field experiment, we show that reranking content expressing antidemocratic attitudes and partisan animosity in social media feeds alters affective polarization. 🧵 515468
Michael Bernstein @mbernst.bsky.social · 01/12/2025Our new article in @science.org enables social media reranking outside of platforms' walled gardens. We add an LLM-powered reranking of highly polarizing political content into N=1256 participants' feeds. Downranking cools tensions with the opposite party—but upranking inflames them. 14813
Reposted by Michael BernsteinCenter for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences, Stanford @casbsstanford.bsky.social · 01/12/2025Current CASBS fellow Jeanne Tsai & fmr fellow @mbernst.bsky.social among coauthors of NEW ARTICLE @science.org unveiling a new method to reduce exposure to highly partisan social media posts & improve users’ attitudes Coverage: news.stanford.edu/stories/2025... Pub: www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...science.orgReranking partisan animosity in algorithmic social media feeds alters affective polarizationToday, social media platforms hold the sole power to study the effects of feed-ranking algorithms. We developed a platform-independent method that reranks participants’ feeds in real time and used thi... 072
Reposted by Michael BernsteinRobb Willer @robbwiller.bsky.social · 07/10/2025🚨New WP!🚨 Structured AI Dialogues Can Increase Happiness and Meaning in Life In a preregistered RCT, four psychology-grounded #AI chatbots improved well-being across several outcomes. Co-authors: Jonas Schoene, Johannes Eichstaedt, Aadesh Salecha, Sonja Lyubomirsky 🧵👇 1136
Michael Bernstein @mbernst.bsky.social · 11/09/2025Stanford Engineering (@StanfordEng) launched an open-rank faculty search in design. It can place candidates in any department in our School of Engineering: facultypositions.stanford.edu/en-us/job/49... I'm thrilled to bring in more colleagues at the intersection of engineering+design!facultypositions.stanford.eduStanford | Faculty Positions: Details - Open Rank Faculty Position in School of Engineering, Design 171
Michael Bernstein @mbernst.bsky.social · 07/07/2025Thank you to everyone for your energy and enthusiasm in joining this adventure with me so far! 11690
Reposted by Michael BernsteinZana Buçinca @zbucinca.bsky.social · 31/05/2025Thrilled to share that I’ve successfully defended my PhD dissertation and I will be joining MIT as an Assistant Professor starting Fall 2026, with a shared appointment between Sloan and EECS! I will be recruiting 1-2 PhD students this upcoming cycle. Consider applying to MIT EECS! 6687
Reposted by Michael BernsteinPolitics and Social Change Lab @pascl-stanford.bsky.social · 21/05/2025Very cool to see this research developed into a policy brief! Impactful work from a superstar team: @joon-s-pk.bsky.social @cqzou.bsky.social @aaronshaw.bsky.social @mako.cc Carrie Cai, Meredith Ringel Morris, @robbwiller.bsky.social Percy Liang, @mbernst.bsky.social 074
Reposted by Michael BernsteinRobb Willer @robbwiller.bsky.social · 21/05/2025Take a 👀 at this policy brief from @stanfordhai.bsky.social on how AI agents can test ideas in social science. Honored to be part of this amazing team: @joon-s-pk.bsky.social @cqzou.bsky.social @aaronshaw.bsky.social @mako.cc Carrie Cai, Meredith Ringel Morris, Percy Liang, @mbernst.bsky.social 0103
Reposted by Michael BernsteinAaron Shaw @aaronshaw.bsky.social · 21/05/2025A policy brief on what generative AI simulations of people might be good for! (based on work with the amazing team of @joon-s-pk.bsky.social @cqzou.bsky.social @mako.cc @robbwiller.bsky.social @mbernst.bsky.social Merrie Morris, Carrie Cai, and Percy Liang) 0102
Reposted by Michael BernsteinAngel Hsing-Chi Hwang @angelhwang.bsky.social · 22/04/2025📣 Calling all #CHI2025 attendees who work with human participants: Join our panel discussion on #LLM, #simulation, #syntheticdata, and the future of human subjects research on Apr 30 (Wed), 2:10 - 3:40 PM (JP Time) Post your questions for panelists here: forms.gle/m2mXY3xFafAX... 2165
Reposted by Michael BernsteinJacy Reese Anthis @jacyanthis.bsky.social · 04/04/2025Should we use LLMs 🤖 to simulate human research subjects 🧑? In our new preprint, we argue sims can augment human studies to scale up social science as AI technology accelerates. We identify 5 tractable challenges and argue this is a promising and underused research method 🧪🧵 arxiv.org/abs/2504.02234arxiv.orgLLM Social Simulations Are a Promising Research MethodAccurate and verifiable large language model (LLM) simulations of human research subjects promise an accessible data source for understanding human behavior and training new AI systems. However, resul... 3207
Reposted by Michael BernsteinSurya Ganguli @suryaganguli.bsky.social · 24/03/2025This might be the most useful thing I have come across in social media - a personalized feed of academic papers filtered by your follower network! Highly recommend. #academicsky 23211
Michael Bernstein @mbernst.bsky.social · 18/03/2025Step 1) Install the #chi2025 module to your Claude/ChatGPT: knollapp.com/add/ZlRKvCmB... Step 2) Ask the LLM, "Given my interests, what are some CHI 2025 papers I should check out?" (If the model doesn't already know your interests, you might need to state them.) 172
Reposted by Michael BernsteinTiziano Piccardi @tiziano.bsky.social · 16/03/2025New funding opportunity for Wikimedia-related research! Grants up to $150K available. Apply by April 16th: meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:...meta.wikimedia.orgGrants:Programs/Wikimedia Research & Technology Fund/Wikimedia Research Fund - Meta 01510
Michael Bernstein @mbernst.bsky.social · 05/03/2025Book announcement: with Melissa Valentine, we are publishing "Flash Teams: Leading the Future of AI-Enhanced, On-Demand Work." It's a leadership book synthesizing a decade of Stanford research on how computing, online platforms, and AI reshape teamwork. Coming October from @mitpress.bsky.social! 1346
Reposted by Michael BernsteinCMU Human-Computer Interaction Institute @hcii.cmu.edu · 05/03/2025It was great to see so many attendees at the seminar from Michael Bernstein on Friday. Thanks for visiting, @mbernst.bsky.social. The recording of "Generative Agents: Interactive Simulacra of Human Behavior" is available at the web page below. @kenholstein.bsky.social @bradamyers.bsky.social 182
Reposted by Michael BernsteinCMU Human-Computer Interaction Institute @hcii.cmu.edu · 27/02/2025Our next #HCIISeminarSeries talk & Sujeath Pareddy Memorial Lecture will be Michael Bernstein @mbernst.bsky.social of Stanford University. 🎙️"Generative Agents: Interactive Simulacra of Human Behavior" 📅 Feb. 28, 2025 🕜1:30pm ET 📍NSH 1305 + livestream 🔗 Details: hcii.cmu.edu/news/event/2...hcii.cmu.eduHCII Seminar Series - Michael Bernstein | Human-Computer Interaction InstituteMichael Bernstein is an Associate Professor of Computer Science at Stanford University, where he is a Bass University Fellow and Interim Director of the Symbolic Systems program. His research focuses ... 031
Michael Bernstein @mbernst.bsky.social · 25/02/2025Weiser (2025)—Sal awakens: she smells coffee. A few minutes ago her alarm clock had quietly asked "coffee?", and she had mumbled "OK." Her Alexa alarm clock did its best with the mumbled response: "Playing OK Go." Sal cried out: "Alexa, stop!" The assistant leered at her. "Alexa. Alexa! ALEXA!" 000
Michael Bernstein @mbernst.bsky.social · 21/02/2025The move to use LLMs to enforce platform codes of conduct is going to expose all the intentional vagueness in the policies. LLMs can certainly enforce what is written in the policies, but I bet it’s going to yield a bunch of undesired changes to enforcement patterns. 161
Michael Bernstein @mbernst.bsky.social · 07/02/2025Applications to the Stanford Symbolic Systems lecturer position is due on the 15th. If you're interested in teaching and mentoring careers in academia, consider applying! 000
Reposted by Michael BernsteinEstelle Smith @estellesmithphd.bsky.social · 31/01/2025📣 The #CSCW2026 deadline (@acm-cscw.bsky.social) has been posted. Big change this year. There is **only one deadline** for 2026 and it is May 13, 2025. 📣 Please spread the word! #CSCW #CHI #HCI #socialcomputing cscw.acm.org/2025/index.p...cscw.acm.orgCALL FOR PAPERS – CSCW 2025 22713
Reposted by Michael BernsteinLorne Campbell @lornejcampbell.bsky.social · 12/01/2025I thoroughly enjoy reading this methods paper by McGrath (1981) www2.psych.ubc.ca/~schaller/52... He views the research process as not a set of problems that need to be solved but dilemmas that need to be lived with. There is not "one true" method free of limitations; all are flawed in dif ways 1174
Reposted by Michael BernsteinTim Hwang @timhwang.bsky.social · 11/01/2025You wouldn't last an hour in the asylum where they raised me 3915
Reposted by Michael BernsteinTiziano Piccardi @tiziano.bsky.social · 05/01/2025How do people *really* read Wikipedia? 📖 👀 We explored how readers navigate, fall into rabbit holes, and engage with information in a chapter for the ‘Handbook of Computational Social Science,’ edited by @tahayasseri.bsky.social. Stay tuned for the full book! 📚 Preprint: arxiv.org/abs/2501.00939 0184
Michael Bernstein @mbernst.bsky.social · 03/01/2025Stanford's Symbolic Systems Program is hiring a three-year lecturer position: academicjobsonline.org/ajo/program/...academicjobsonline.orgStanford University, Symbolic Systems Program Full service online faculty recruitment and application management system for academic institutions worldwide. We offer unique solutions tailored for academic communities. 045
Michael Bernstein @mbernst.bsky.social · 02/01/2025Big congratulations to @helenasresearch.bsky.social on winning a 2025 CRA Outstanding Undergraduate Researcher Award! cra.org/about/awards... 1171
Reposted by Michael BernsteinSteve Collins @stevecollins.bsky.social · 19/12/2024Stanford is hiring! The School of Engineering seeks an Executive Director for a new facility that will support student-led organizations that design and build things. Awesome opportunity. Feel free to reach out with questions: stevecollins@stanford.edu careersearch.stanford.edu/jobs/directo...careersearch.stanford.eduExecutive Director, Student-Led Organization Facility in School of Engineering, Stanford, California, United StatesWe are seeking an Executive Director to develop and lead this new facility. The Executive Director will have the opportunity to create a truly unique.... 194
Reposted by Michael BernsteinJoseph Seering @josephseering.bsky.social · 14/12/2024The question of whether to boot Singal is one of what will be an increasingly large number of decisions that Bluesky as an organization really does not want to make. It's important to remember that Bluesky was created with an ethos directly opposed to central authority making these decisions. 23210
Michael Bernstein @mbernst.bsky.social · 08/12/2024A great class concept with a website so funky that the Fresh Prince himself would probably enroll 0112
Michael Bernstein @mbernst.bsky.social · 07/12/2024Palo Alto public phone chassis replaced by an open book exchange. Love it. 2140
Reposted by Michael BernsteinAmy Zhang @axz.bsky.social · 05/12/2024If you are headed to NeurIPS, please join for our Pluralistic Alignment workshop! We have a great set of speakers from a range of backgrounds. & all the papers that will be presented at the workshop are posted: pluralistic-alignment.github.io lmk if you'd like to catch up at the conference too! :)pluralistic-alignment.github.ioPluralistic Alignment @ NeurIPS 2024Pluralistic Alignment 1429
Michael Bernstein @mbernst.bsky.social · 26/11/2024Realtime LLM social media reranking enables field experiments demonstrating how we can depolarize. Congratulations @tiziano.bsky.social, @msaveski.bsky.social, and @jiachenyan.bsky.social! 0274
Reposted by Michael BernsteinTiziano Piccardi @tiziano.bsky.social · 25/11/2024New paper: Do social media algorithms shape affective polarization? We ran a field experiment on X/Twitter (N=1,256) using LLMs to rerank content in real-time, adjusting exposure to polarizing posts. Result: Algorithmic ranking impacts feelings toward the political outgroup! 🧵⬇️ 32804212
Reposted by Michael BernsteinZakir Durumeric @zakird.com · 23/11/2024Last week at CSCW, Catherine Han presented our work on journalists' unmet needs for protecting against harassment online. While the work targeted Twitter/X, it surfaces several nuances in users' needs that span future platforms as well (e.g., not wanting to filter out threats or visibly block users)zakird.com 2309
Michael Bernstein @mbernst.bsky.social · 13/11/2024Tiziano has a technical talent that has enabled him to go after incredibly ambitious computational social science projects. Keep an eye out for one of them coming soon! 0100
Michael Bernstein @mbernst.bsky.social · 12/11/2024Wednesday, at CSCW: @mlam.bsky.social and Chenyan Jia present their Best Paper award winner, "Embedding Democratic Values into Social Media AIs via Societal Objective Functions" hai.stanford.edu/news/buildin...hai.stanford.eduBuilding a Social Media Algorithm That Actually Promotes Societal ValuesA Stanford research team shows that building democratic values into a feed-ranking algorithm reduces partisan animosity. 1194
Michael Bernstein @mbernst.bsky.social · 11/11/2024Coming very soon: #cscw2024 panel on "Is Human-AI Interaction CSCW?" alongside @asbruckman.bsky.social, @jeffbigham.bsky.social, @andresmh.bsky.social, and Merrie Morris! programs.sigchi.org/cscw/2024/pr... 011
Michael Bernstein @mbernst.bsky.social · 01/11/2024This paper argues that online spaces become ghost towns because it's too easy to lurk without contributing, and that asking people to regularly re-commit—or the incoming messages start getting muted—reverses the trend. arxiv.org/abs/2410.23267 It works! #cscw2024 paper by @popowski.bsky.social .arxiv.orgCommit: Online Groups with Participation CommitmentsIn spite of efforts to increase participation, many online groups struggle to survive past the initial days, as members leave and activity atrophies. We argue that a main assumption of online group de... 03713
Michael Bernstein @mbernst.bsky.social · 21/02/2024What unifies, and what distinguishes, social media designs? Are all the Twitter spinoffs actually meaningfully different designs from each other? Form-From is a design space from @axz.bsky.social, myself, @karger.bsky.social, and Mark Ackerman that will appear at #cscw2024: arxiv.org/abs/2402.05388 1147
Michael Bernstein @mbernst.bsky.social · 11/01/2024If you're interested in AI and social media, apply for this postdoc position at @Stanford: hci.stanford.edu/postdoc.phphci.stanford.eduStanford Postdoc OpeningEncoding Societal Values into Social Media AIs: Call for Postdoctoral Fellows 154
Michael Bernstein @mbernst.bsky.social · 19/09/2023I've been wrestling with the gap between HCI curricula, which tend to focus on the design process, and the big theories and ideas that animate us in HCI. Here's a model that has started working well here for me here at Stanford: medium.com/@msbernst/te...medium.comTeaching HCI Foundations and FrontiersWhen there’s a vast library of theories, visions, architectures, and critiques, not every design idea has to start from the drawing board. 0101
