Danial Amin

University of Vaasa

Espoo, Finland

+358 46 803 3843

I am a doctoral candidate at the University of Vaasa, Finland, under the supervision of Dr. Joni Salminen focusing on Generative AI (GenAI) and user representation research.

news

Apr 15, 2026	I presented my first CHI paper today. In a session led by Google design head and surrounded by people from MIT, Stanford, INRIA, and University of Washington, doing this great work on the fundamentals of design methods and frameworks for HCI community. read here
Mar 11, 2026	My very first PhD project, a book chapter titled LLMs in Human Computer Interaction, which introduced the concept of Persona Ecosystem Playground is published by CRC Press today. read here
Nov 06, 2025	I recently presented our work in progress at Quant UX Conference, a conference focused on bringing QuantUX researchers from both industry and academia together. read slides here
Oct 17, 2025	My first lead-author article, exploring the challenges of Generative AI personas, has just been published in the International Journal of Human–Computer Studies (IJHCS). The paper highlights twenty critical challenges that researchers and practitioners in the HCI community may face when working with Generative AI personas. read here
Oct 09, 2025	The article on Synthetic Users is published in Augmented Humans 2025 Proceedings on October 9, 2025. read here

latest posts

Jan 09, 2026	The Time Series Blind Spot - Why Generative AI Failed at Forecasting
Dec 30, 2025	The Year of Firsts
Dec 01, 2025	Why Human-AI Interaction Will Always Need Humans
Nov 21, 2025	The Personality Problem - Why Your LLM's Character Matters More Than Its IQ
Nov 19, 2025	How Not to Supervise - Seven Principles That Actually Matter

selected publications

IJHCS

Generative AI Personas Considered Harmful? Examining the Risks of Algorithmic User Representations in HCI Design 2025

Danial Amin , Joni Salminen , Bernard J. Jansen, and 2 more authors

International Journal of Human-Computer Studies,

Published

DOI Bib HTML

Cited by 18

@article{amin2025genai_harmful,
  title = {Generative AI Personas Considered Harmful? Examining the Risks of Algorithmic User Representations in HCI Design},
  author = {Amin, Danial and Salminen, Joni and Jansen, Bernard J. and Shin, Joongi and Kim, Dong Hun},
  journal = {International Journal of Human-Computer Studies},
  year = {2025},
  note = {Published},
  doi = {10.1016/j.ijhcs.2025.103657},
}

CHI’2026

Creating and Evaluating Personas Using Generative AI: A Scoping Review of 81 Articles 2026

Danial Amin , Joni Salminen , Farhan Ahmed, and 3 more authors

In CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI’26),

Published

DOI Bib HTML Slides

Cited by 40

@inproceedings{amin2025generative_review,
  title = {Creating and Evaluating Personas Using Generative AI: A Scoping Review of 81 Articles},
  author = {Amin, Danial and Salminen, Joni and Ahmed, Farhan and Tervola, M.H. Sonja and Sethi, Sankalp and Jansen, Bernard J.},
  booktitle = {CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI'26)},
  year = {2026},
  note = {Published},
  doi = {10.1145/3772318.3790608},
}

IEEE Access

Proposing a Quantitative Framework for Persona Set Diversity Measurement as a Pathway to Inclusive User Representation 2026

Danial Amin , Joni Salminen , and Bernard J. Jansen

IEEE Access,

In review

Bib

Cited by 0

@article{amin2025diversity_personas,
  title = {Proposing a Quantitative Framework for Persona Set Diversity Measurement as a Pathway to Inclusive User Representation},
  author = {Amin, Danial and Salminen, Joni and Jansen, Bernard J.},
  journal = {IEEE Access},
  year = {2026},
  note = {In review},
}

BIT

How to Model AI Agents as Personas?: Applying the Persona Ecosystem Playground to 41,300 Posts on Moltbook for Behavioral Insights 2026

Danial Amin , Joni Salminen , and Bernard J. Jansen

Behaviour & Information Technology,

In review

Bib HTML

Cited by 1

@article{amin2026_moltbook,
  title = {How to Model AI Agents as Personas?: Applying the Persona Ecosystem Playground to 41,300 Posts on Moltbook for Behavioral Insights},
  author = {Amin, Danial and Salminen, Joni and Jansen, Bernard J.},
  year = {2026},
  journal = {Behaviour & Information Technology},
  note = {In review},
}

CRC Press

Large language models (LLMs) in human-computer interaction: Using LLM-generated personas to model everything from minority views to entire ecosystems 2026

Danial Amin , Joni Salminen , Bernard J. Jansen, and 2 more authors

In Artificial Intelligence & Large Language Models: A Scientific Perspective,

Published

DOI Bib HTML

Cited by 2

@incollection{amin2024llm_personas,
  title = {Large language models (LLMs) in human-computer interaction: Using LLM-generated personas to model everything from minority views to entire ecosystems},
  author = {Amin, Danial and Salminen, Joni and Jansen, Bernard J. and Kaate, Ilkka and Akhtar, Waleed},
  booktitle = {Artificial Intelligence \& Large Language Models: A Scientific Perspective},
  publisher = {CRC Press},
  year = {2026},
  note = {Published},
  doi = {10.1201/9781003492252-10},
}

Palgrave

How Can Tensions in Sustainability Transitions Be Made Visible?: Challenging the Actor-Centered Ecosystem Approach through Persona-Based Modeling 2026

Danial Amin , Joni Salminen , Farhan Ahmed, and 2 more authors

In Ecosystems and Networks for Sustainable Business,

In review

Bib

Cited by 0

@incollection{amin2026ecosystem,
  title = {How Can Tensions in Sustainability Transitions Be Made Visible?: Challenging the Actor-Centered Ecosystem Approach through Persona-Based Modeling},
  author = {Amin, Danial and Salminen, Joni and Ahmed, Farhan and Zemskova, Emillia and Jansen, Bernard J.},
  booktitle = {Ecosystems and Networks for Sustainable Business},
  publisher = {Palgrave Macmillan},
  year = {2026},
  note = {In review},
}

CHI’25

"When AI Writes Personas": Analyzing Lexical Diversity in LLM-Generated Persona Descriptions 2025

Sankalp Sethi , Joni Salminen , Danial Amin, and 1 more author

In Extended Abstracts of CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems’2025,

Published, Extended Abstract

DOI Bib HTML

Cited by 16

@inproceedings{sethi2025lexical_diversity,
  title = {"When AI Writes Personas": Analyzing Lexical Diversity in LLM-Generated Persona Descriptions},
  author = {Sethi, Sankalp and Salminen, Joni and Amin, Danial and Jansen, Bernard J.},
  booktitle = {Extended Abstracts of CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems'2025},
  year = {2025},
  note = {Published, Extended Abstract},
  doi = {10.1145/3706599.3719712},
  url = {https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3706599.3719712},
}