About
Nithya Sambasivan is a computer scientist with expertise in Human-computer Interaction and AI/ML, with widespread product, policy, and scientific impact.
Nithya was formerly a Staff Research Scientist at Google DeepMind, Mountain View. She founded and led Google DeepMind India and Ghana’s HCI teams and introduced and fostered several students internationally into the fields of HCI and AI/ML. Nithya’s work has been covered in venues like VentureBeat, MIT Technology Review, ZDNet, Scroll.in, O’Reilly, State of AI, and more. Her research has directly impacted science policy, such as the Indian government’s responsible AI policy and the introduction of the NeurIPS Datasets track, and the fields of human-data interaction, data quality, global FAccT, and data-centered AI. Nithya’s research has directly shipped in Google Gemini, Google Search, YouTube, Android, Google Station and more. Her research has won several best paper awards at top conferences, as well as internal research awards. Nithya was formerly a visiting associate professor in the CS department at the University of Washington, Seattle.
Nithya has a PhD. in Information and Computer Sciences from the University of California, Irvine and an MS in Human Computer Interaction from Georgia Tech.
Contact
nithyasambasivan.at.work [at] gmail [dot] com
Selected Publications
Ramesh, D., Kameswaran, V., Wang, D., Sambasivan, N.
How Platform-User Power Relations Shape Algorithmic Accountability: A Case Study of Instant Loan Platforms and Financially-Stressed Users in India
FAccT 2022 [PDF]
Sambasivan, N.
All Equation, No Human: The Myopia of Model Centrism
ACM interactions, 29(2) (March 2022) [PDF]
Sambasivan, N., Veeraraghavan, R.
The Deskilling of Domain Expertise in AI Development
CHI 2022 [PDF] [Talk]
Kapania, S., Siy, O., Clapper, G., SP, A., Sambasivan, N.
“Because AI is 100% right and safe”: User Vulnerabilities and Sources of AI Authority in India
CHI 2022 [PDF]
Sambasivan, N.
Seeing like a Dataset from the Global South
ACM interactions 28(4) (July 2021). [PDF]
Sambasivan, N., Kapania, S., Highfill, H., Akrong, D., Paritosh, P., Aroyo, L.
“Everyone wants to do the model work, not the data work”: Data Cascades in High-stakes AI
CHI 2021. [PDF] [Blog] [Talk]
[Best of CHI]
Sambasivan, N., Arnesen, E., Hutchinson, B., Doshi, T., Prabhakaran, V.
Re-imagining Algorithmic Fairness in India and Beyond.
FaccT 2021 [PDF] [Talk].
Sambasivan, N., Batool, A., Ahmed, N., Matthews, T., Thomas, K., Gaytán-Lugo, L., Nemer, D., Bursztein, E., Churchill, E. and Consolvo, S.
Toward Gender-Equitable Privacy and Security in South Asia. [PDF]
IEEE Security & Privacy. 17. (2019). 71-77.
Sambasivan, N.
The Remarkable Illusions of Technology for Social Good
ACM interactions 26(3) (July 2019), 64-67. [PDF]
Sambasivan, N., Batool, A., Ahmed, N., Matthews, T., Thomas, K., Gaytán-Lugo, L., Nemer, D., Bursztein, E., Churchill, E. and Consolvo, S.
“They Don’t Leave Us Alone Anywhere We Go”: Gender and Digital Abuse in South Asia
CHI 2019 [PDF]
[Best of CHI]
Sambasivan, N. and Holbrook, J.
Towards Responsible AI for the Next Billion Users. [PDF]
ACM interactions 26(1) (January 2019), 68-71.
Sambasivan, N., Checkley, G., Batool, A., Ahmed, N., Nemer, D., Gaytán-Lugo, L., Matthews, T., Consolvo, S., and Churchill, E.
“Privacy is not for me, it’s for those rich women”: Performative Privacy Practices on Mobile Phones by Women in South Asia
SOUPS 2018 [PDF]
[IAPP Privacy Award]
Thakkar, D.*, Sambasivan, N.*, Yardi, P., Sudarshan, P., and Toyama, K.
The Unexpected Entry and Exodus of Indian Women in CS and HCI
CHI 2018. [PDF | Google blog post | Indian scientist role model videos (with Divy Thakkar)]
Dye, M., Nemer, D., Pina, L., Sambasivan, N., Bruckman, A. and Kumar, N.
Locating the Internet in the Parks of Havana.
CHI 2017 [PDF]
[Best of CHI Honourable Mention]
Sambasivan, N., Lee, P., Hecht, G., Aoki, P.M., Carrera, M.-I., Chen, J., Youssefmir, M., Cohn, D.P., Kruskall, P., Wetchler, E. and Larssen, A.T.
SmartBrowse: Design and Evaluation of a Mobile Data Price Transparency Tool for Mobile Web Use.
ITID 11 (1), Spring 2015, 21-40. [PDF]
[‘Best of ICTD’ special issue]
Sambasivan, N. and Cutrell, E.
Understanding Negotiation in Airtime Sharing in Low-income Microenterprises.
CHI 2012. [PDF]
[Best of CHI Honourable Mention]
Sambasivan, N., Cutrell, E., and Weber, J. S.
Designing a Phone Broadcasting System for Urban Sex Workers in India.
CHI 2011. [PDF]
[Best of CHI Honourable Mention]
Sambasivan, N., Cutrell, E., Toyama, K. and Nardi, B.
Intermediated Technology Use in Developing Communities.
CHI 2010. [PDF]
[Best of CHI Honourable Mention]
Sambasivan, N. and Smyth, T.
The Human Infrastructure in ICTD.
ICTD 2010. [PDF]
Dissertation
Production of Use: Reconceptualizing “the User” in Low-income Communities in Urban India, 2012. [Link]
University of California, Irvine
Nithya Sambasivan, PhD. 