Hello, I'm Jessica

...sometimes I go by my Chinese name, Yi Fei (亦非)!

I am a 3rd year Computer Science PhD student at the University of Toronto in the Computational Social Science Lab working with Ashton Anderson. My research centers around safety in human-AI interactions, exploring themes around over-reliance, transparency, and emergent harms. I am also Junior Fellow at Massey College, a Graduate Affiliate at the Schwartz Reisman Institute, and an Affliate Researcher at the Vector Institute. For Summer 2026, I'll be interning with Solon Barocas and Jenn Wortman Vaughan at Microsoft Research.

I did my MSc at ETH Zurich and my BASc at the University of British Columbia, both in Mechanical Engineering. My research experiences include Google AR for LLM personalization, MIT with Giovanni Traverso in ML for Healthcare, National University of Singapore with Brian Lim in Explainable AI, EPFL with Amir Zamir in Embodied Perception, and UBC with Mike Van der Loos in Human-Robot Interactions. I co-founded Attentiv Medical, a sensor-embedded IV catheter that won a National James Dyson Award.

Please reach out if you think we can collaborate or share ideas :)

Updates

  • 2026/06 - Joining Microsoft Research's FATE team as an intern for the summer, come say hi if you're in NYC!
  • 2026/04 - Our study on the impacts of LLM sycophancy on novices is accepted to CHI 2026 (with an Honourable Mention!). I'll also be at the BiAlign and HEAL workshops.
  • 2026/03 - Our paper on perceptions and practices in AI Companion relationships is accepted to FAccT 2026 --> check out the project website for our zine!
  • 2026/02 - Presented our paper on LLM exhibiting inconsistent trust towards other agents at IASEAI 2026 in Paris
  • 2025/07 - Awarded the Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarship (only recipient from UofT CS) for my proposed PhD research!
  • 2025/06 - Renewed my Walter C. Sumner Memorial Fellowship for another year.
  • 2025/05 - Released our preprint "Steerable Chatbots" from my internship at Google AR.
  • 2025/05 - "To Rely or Not to Rely?", our paper on appropriate reliance for LLMs, received Honourable Mention at CHI 2025! We also have a short paper "Who's the Leader?" in the Tools-for-Thoughts Workshop.
  • 2024/10 - In Pittsburgh for UIST and AAAI HCOMP (presenting our recent paper on LLM Disclosures & Disclaimers)!
  • 2024/06 - I'll be joining the Schwartz Reisman Institute as a Graduate Fellow.
  • 2024/06 - Received the Ontario Graduate Scholarship and the Walter C. Sumner Memorial Fellowship.
  • 2024/02 - Received the Wolfond Scholarship from the CS department.
  • 2024/01 - Incremental XAI from my internship at NUS is accepted to CHI 2024.
  • 2023/09 - Started PhD at University of Toronto!