David S. Johnson, PhD

Starting January 1st, 2024, I lead the newly founded Human-Centric Explainable AI (HCXAI) working group (website to come) in the Center for Cognitive Interaction Technology (CITEC) at Bielefeld University. The group will perform interdisciplinary research at the cross-section of human-computer interaction (HCI) and machine learning, with the aim to enable human-machine collaboration by enhancing both human and machine capabilities by putting human knowledge, needs, and understanding first in the design of AI-based systems and interactions. This includes topics such as explainable AI (XAI) and AI-assisted decision-making in digital health. With the current black-box nature of AI, improved collaboration between humans and machines is necessary to improve societal trust in working with complex AI systems.

My research and teaching interests have always been driven by interdisciplinary interests, such as digital health and sound and music computing. In my previous role with the Multimodal Behavior Processing Group of Jun.-Prof. Dr. Hanna Drimalla, my research has focused on developing inclusive XAI methods that account for differences in human behavior and applying XAI methods to digital health applications. My previous research had a strong focus on integrating HCI and AI for sound and music computing. At the Fraunhofer Institute for Digital Media Technology (IDMT), I worked on industrial sound analysis via deep learning methods. Before that, I completed my PhD at the University of Victoria under the supervision of Dr. George Tzanetakis and Dr. Daniela Damian , where I performed research at the intersection of HCI, Music Information Retrieval (MIR), Computer Vision (CV), and Extended Reality (XR) for improving musical tutoring. I completed my MSc at the College of Charleston working with Dr. Bill Manaris , where researched the application of HCI methods and evolutionary algorithms to tools to enhance the creative process of musicians and artists.