Researching Life with Intelligent Systems
Human–AI interaction is changing how people think, communicate, and make decisions. For Joshua Mu-En Liu, this emerging field offers a way to examine not only what artificial intelligence can do, but also how people adapt to its presence in everyday life. His research focuses on the social consequences of AI-mediated communication and the ways intelligent systems influence relationships, judgment, and participation.
At the center of this work is a guiding question: how do interactions with AI reshape how people think, relate to others, and exercise power and agency? Addressing this question requires attention to both technical systems and the cultural contexts in which they are used. It also means asking who benefits from AI, whose perspectives are represented, and how seemingly convenient tools may redistribute authority.
Power, Agency, and AI-Mediated Communication
AI-mediated communication can support connection, creativity, and access to information, while also introducing new forms of dependence and influence. Chatbots, recommendation systems, and generative tools increasingly participate in conversations that were once exclusively human. These systems may shape the language people use, the choices they consider, and the assumptions they bring into social interactions.
Research in this area therefore examines agency as something negotiated rather than fixed. Users may direct AI systems, but systems also guide attention, frame possibilities, and encode institutional priorities. Understanding this relationship can contribute to more thoughtful approaches to design, governance, and public debate.
From Journalism to Academic Inquiry
With a background in journalism and public writing, Liu brings a commitment to clear explanation and critical engagement. Journalism provides valuable tools for investigating institutions, listening across different experiences, and translating complex issues for broad audiences. Academic research extends these practices through sustained theoretical inquiry, methodological rigor, and careful attention to evidence.
This combination supports work that is both analytically grounded and publicly relevant. By connecting human–AI interaction with communication studies, media research, and questions of power, the research aims to clarify how emerging technologies are reshaping social life—and how people might influence that transformation.