We are the Language Interaction Lab at the Siebel School of Computing and Data Science at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.
We work at the intersection of Natural Language Processing and Human-Computer Interaction. We design human-centric AI systems that make it easier for more people to communicate, share and understand expert knowledge. This includes evaluating the ability of AI to communicate complex concepts to diverse audiences and building interactive tools that augment how people read, write, and listen in knowledge-intensive fields like medicine, law, and science.
News & Updates
- Jan 2026: We have 6 papers going to CHI 2026 this year! The papers represent the lab’s growing focus on human-centered AI in high-stakes domains like Law, Medicine, and Science. More details about each paper coming soon.
Our Team
Featured Blog Posts
Better translation won't improve health AI for immigrants. Here's what they actually need.
March 31, 2026 · Michelle Huang
Imagine going to the doctor in a country where you don't speak the language well. AI health tools are increasingly deployed to support underserved populations, but most are designed without user needs and contexts in mind...
Re-Designing Persona-Driven Deep Research System to Encourage User Critical Thinking
March 31, 2026 · Yiren Liu
What if brainstorming a new research idea felt less like interrogating a chatbot and more like moderating a panel of opinionated experts?...
Living Contracts: Beyond Document-Centric Interaction with Legal Agreements
April 8, 2026 · Ziheng (Fred) Huang
We regularly sign legal contracts for where we live, who we work with, and the services we use. But our interaction with them has largely been limited to document reading — complicated by extended, complex, and ambiguous legal language...
TermSight: Making Service Contracts Approachable
April 8, 2026 · Ziheng (Fred) Huang
We regularly click "Agree" to Terms of Service that quietly govern our data and rights. Most people don't fully understand what they're signing — not because they don't care, but because ToS are presented in a form misaligned with how humans process information...
How do you have an AI help you write without writing for you?
April 10, 2026 · Yijun Liu
A common model for AI writing support is straightforward: paste your draft, receive a better one. We noticed this resembles a failure mode that writing centers spent decades moving away from...
Lab Life
