Current Research

My research fits into the larger field of Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence, the study of how to develop technology based on how humans interact with it. For my DPhil, I focused on the impact of Artificial Intelligence on audiences' experiences with Art. The core of the research explores how algorithmic curation through social media impacts perceptions and experiences with art. There are three pillars of work supporting the thesis: the importance of art metadata, the human experiences of viewing art in digital spaces, and the various re-designed potential futures.

I also work on AI privacy and research how to improve the robustness of practioners' AI/ML workflows so we can collectively build better tools.

Publications

2025

  1. Thomas Serban von Davier, Aaron Larsen, Max Van Kleek, and Nigel Shadbolt. ArtBot: An Exploration into AI's Potential for Guiding Art Analysis.In Extended Abstracts of the CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI EA '25). April 26–May 01, 2025, Yokohama, Japan. ACM, New York, NY, USA, 11 pages. https://doi.org/10.1145/3706599.3720181

  2. Thomas Şerban von Davier, Hayoun Noh, Max Van Kleek, & Nigel Shadbolt. Looking for Art in a Sea of Content: A Human-Centered Approach to Supporting Creativity on Social Media. The Proceedings of the ACM on Human Computer Interaction (PACM HCI'25). 9, 2, Article CSCW127 (April 2025), 25 pages. https://doi.org/10.1145/3711025

2024

  1. von Davier, T.Ş.; Herman, L.M.; Moruzzi, C. A Machine Walks into an Exhibit: A Technical Analysis of Art Curation. Arts 2024, 13, 138. https://doi.org/10.3390/arts13050138

  2. Hao-Ping (Hank) Lee, Yu-Ju Yang, Thomas Serban Von Davier, Jodi Forlizzi, and Sauvik Das. 2024. Deepfakes, Phrenology, Surveillance, and More! A Taxonomy of AI Privacy Risks. In Proceedings of the 2024 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI '24). Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA, Article 775, 1–19. https://doi.org/10.1145/3613904.3642116

2023

  1. Thomas Serban Von Davier. 2023. Designing for Appreciation: How Digital Spaces Can Support Art and Culture. In Extended Abstracts of the 2023 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI EA '23). Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA, Article 490, 1–5. https://doi.org/10.1145/3544549.3577041

  2. von Davier, T. Ş., Kollnig, K., Binns, R., Van Kleek, M., & Shadbolt, N. (2023). We Are Not There Yet: The Implications of Insufficient Knowledge Management for Organisational Compliance. arXiv preprint arXiv:2305.04061.

  3. Kollnig, K., Datta, S., Serban Von Davier, T., Van Kleek, M., Binns, R., Lyngs, U., & Shadbolt, N. (2023, June). ‘We are adults and deserve control of our phones’: Examining the risks and opportunities of a right to repair for mobile apps. In Proceedings of the 2023 ACM Conference on Fairness, Accountability, and Transparency (pp. 22-34). PDF.

In the News

  1. Henrique Fabretti Moraes & Maria Beatriz Previtali. 2024. "Shaping the future: A dynamic taxonomy for AI privacy risk". In the International Association of Privacy Professionals News. Article Link.

Presentations

GERAD Montreal

A seminar I gave in 2023 while visiting HEC Montreal and GERAD. The seminar focuses on the importance of art metadata and what it can tell us about human experiences of art. The final portion of the presentation highlights the collaboration work I set out to do with my colleagues at HEC Montreal. Click on the text to view it.

AIMAC Lisbon, 2024

The presentation about our network graph for the audience at AIMAC 2024. We visualized and analyzed a network of musicians to explore the impact of their network centrality and their success on Spotify's streaming platform. The network is linked to this information box.