The Alignment Lab is a group of researchers conducting interdisciplinary research on human-AI collaboration for social good. Grounded in the principles of human-centered design, the Alignment Lab aims to (1) deeply understand people's challenges when using technologies, transforming these challenges into design opportunities. Next, the lab’s second mission is to (2) develop new human-AI collaboration designs that promote social good. This dual focus ensures that the lab’s work remains both user-centered and impactful in addressing real-world challenges.

Led by Dr. Sungsoo Ray Hong, a team of five Ph.D. students and master’s and undergraduate students are actively conducting projects to create societal impact in the following key areas:

• Developing Humans and Als for Human-AI: Developing interactive methods for explaining and revising AI models that handle images, videos, and text through scalable human-in-the-loop approaches and actionable explainable AI (XAI).
• Neurodiverse Employment and Work: Creating future solutions for neurodiverse workforces, particularly in vocational search and job training.
• Multi-video + multi-robots sensemaking: Designing a semi-autonomous group robot exploration system for sensemaking in public safety and disaster recovery scenarios.

These efforts aim to address real-world challenges and advance human-AI collaboration for social good.

As of October 2024, projects in the Alignment Lab have been sponsored by the two National Science Foundation (NSF) programs and The Office of Research, Innovation, and Economic Impact (ORIEI) at George Mason.