Tal August

Professor Tal August is an Assistant Professor in the School of Computing and Data Science at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Her research focuses on building human-centric artificial intelligence systems that reduce inequalities in access to specialized knowledge. She studies how effectively AI systems can communicate complex information to diverse audiences and designs interactive systems that help people read, write, and listen more effectively in knowledge-intensive domains such as medicine, law, and science. Her work combines methods from natural language processing, human–computer interaction, and computational social science to evaluate and improve AI-mediated communication. A central theme of her research is understanding how language, explanations, and interface design influence comprehension, trust, and decision-making. Prior to joining UIUC, Professor August was a Young Investigator at the Allen Institute for AI. She received her Ph.D. from the University of Washington, where she was advised by Katharina Reinecke and Noah Smith. Her work has appeared in leading venues such as ACM Transactions on Computer-Human Interaction and CHI.