Fig. 0 — the subject
Persona 01 · n = 1 · sourced, not generated
Danial Amin
I am Head of AI and Data at the Stealth GenAI Impact Lab, Illusian Ventures, where I build the kind of generative AI system I spend my papers criticising. That order matters — it is a useful place to argue from.
Alongside that I am a doctoral researcher at the University of Vaasa, in PersonaTeam, supervised by Dr. Joni Salminen. My work is about whether generative AI can represent users fairly — how these systems build personas, where they flatten the people they are meant to describe, and what that costs communities already thin on the ground in the training data.
Longer version
Before the lab I built GenAI tools for designers at Samsung Design Innovation Center, and before that AI systems in engineering domains across Pakistan, the USA, MENA and Ireland. I came to research through practice rather than the other way round.
I have run space education and popularisation in Pakistan for years through Space Technology Education and Popularization — World Space Week (2014–2022), Space Summer School (2017–2022) and Space Camps — and volunteer with theNational Center of GIS & Space Applications. Four languages, some poetry and dark prose, otherwise mostly overthinking or cooking.
Every label opposite comes from a CV, a bibliography or a published sentence — nothing is inferred. A generated persona cannot make that claim, and the gap is the research.
Position
Head of AI and Data · Stealth GenAI Impact Lab, Illusian Ventures
Based in
Espoo, Finland
Languages
English · French · Urdu · Punjabi
Record
18 published, 16 in review, 2025–2027 · 38 co-authors
Works on
Fairness in generative AI · Human-computer interaction · User representation · GenAI personas
In his own words
A persona can be entirely plausible and still represent no one.
Publications
18 published · 16 in review · bibtex- 18published
- 16in review
- 16first-authored
- 13venues
- 38co-authors
- 2025–2027span
- 98citationsas of 2026-09-20
Selected — starred in the full list
- 01
Creating and Evaluating Personas Using Generative AI: A Scoping Review of 81 Articles
@inproceedings{amin2025generative_review, title = {Creating and Evaluating Personas Using Generative AI: A Scoping Review of 81 Articles}, citations = {40}, author = {Amin, Danial and Salminen, Joni and Ahmed, Farhan and Tervola, Sonja M.H. and Sethi, Sankalp and Jansen, Bernard J.}, booktitle = {CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI'26)}, year = {2026}, note = {Published}, selected = {1}, abbr = {CHI'2026}, doi = {10.1145/3772318.3790608}, html = {https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3772318.3790608}, slides = {https://speakerdeck.com/damin/creating-and-evaluating-personas-using-generative-ai-a-scoping-review-of-81-articles} } - 02
Generative AI Personas Considered Harmful? Examining the Risks of Algorithmic User Representations in HCI Design
@article{amin2025genai_harmful, title = {Generative AI Personas Considered Harmful? Examining the Risks of Algorithmic User Representations in HCI Design}, citations = {18}, 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}, abbr = {IJHCS}, selected = {2}, doi = {10.1016/j.ijhcs.2025.103657}, html = {https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1071581925002149} } - 03
Introducing Persona Ecosystem Playground (PEP): Generating Behaviorally Grounded Personas from Think-Aloud Data Using LLMs with RAG
@inproceedings{amin2025pep, title = {Introducing Persona Ecosystem Playground (PEP): Generating Behaviorally Grounded Personas from Think-Aloud Data Using LLMs with RAG}, citations = {0}, author = {Amin, Danial and Salminen, Joni and Jansen, Bernard J.}, booktitle = {Conference on Conversational User Interfaces'2026}, year = {2026}, note = {Published}, abbr = {CUI'2026}, selected = {3}, doi = {10.1145/3816046.3816269} } - 04
Large language models (LLMs) in human-computer interaction: Using LLM-generated personas to model everything from minority views to entire ecosystems
@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}, citations = {2}, 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}, abbr = {CRC Press}, selected = {4}, doi = {10.1201/9781003492252-10}, html = {https://doi.org/10.1201/9781003492252-10} } - 05
AI Representing Personas Representing User Groups: Applying the Agency Theory to Examine Interaction Challenges of Conversational Personas as Decision-Making Tools
@article{salminen2025aipersonas, title = {AI Representing Personas Representing User Groups: Applying the Agency Theory to Examine Interaction Challenges of Conversational Personas as Decision-Making Tools}, citations = {1}, author = {Salminen, Joni and Jung, Soon-gyo and Kaate, Ilkka and Xuan, Thi Thu Trang and Azem, Jinan Y. and Aldous, Kholoud and Amin, Danial and Jansen, Bernard J.}, journal = {Decision Support Systems}, year = {2026}, note = {Published}, abbr = {DSS'2026}, selected = {5}, doi = {10.1016/j.dss.2026.114633}, html = {https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dss.2026.114633} } - 06
"Pathways to the Metaverse": Exploring the User Experience Mechanisms Driving Technology Acceptance in Virtual Lab Visits with an LLM-powered Avatar
@inproceedings{xini2026meta, title = {"Pathways to the Metaverse": Exploring the User Experience Mechanisms Driving Technology Acceptance in Virtual Lab Visits with an LLM-powered Avatar}, citations = {1}, author = {Tu, Xinyi and Biondani, Francesco and Amin, Danial and Fabillar, Angelica and Xuan, Thi Thu Trang and Adeel, Huma Bano and Tervola, Sonja M.H. and Berlingeri, Carlo and Fummi, Franco and Salminen, Joni and Jansen, Bernard J.}, booktitle = {Conference on Intelligent User Interfaces'2026}, year = {2026}, note = {Published}, abbr = {IUI'2026}, selected = {6}, doi = {10.1145/3742413.3789084}, html = {https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3742413.3789084} } - 07
"When AI Writes Personas": Analyzing Lexical Diversity in LLM-Generated Persona Descriptions
@inproceedings{sethi2025lexical_diversity, title = {"When AI Writes Personas": Analyzing Lexical Diversity in LLM-Generated Persona Descriptions}, citations = {16}, 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}, abbr = {CHI'25}, url = {https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3706599.3719712}, html = {https://doi.org/10.1145/3706599.3719712}, selected = {7} }
Nothing matches those filters.
News
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
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
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
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
The article on Synthetic Users is published in Augmented Humans 2025 Proceedings on October 9, 2025. read here
I graduated from Rennes School of Business as an MBA graduate with distinction under the French Excellence Scholarship Program for Climate Change 2023-2024. read here
Education, service and awards
Education
- 2025 - PresentDoctor of Science in Business Administration and EconomicsUniversity of Vaasa, Finland
- 2023 - 2024Masters in Business AdministrationRennes School of Business
- 2013 - 2017B.S. in Aerospace EngineeringInstitute of Space Technology
Service
- 2024-26Peer Reviewer, journals: International Journal of Human-Computer Studies; Expert Systems with Applications; ACM Transactions on Computer-Human Interaction; Online Information Review; Computers in Human Behavior; International Journal of Human-Computer Interaction; Climate Services
- 2025-26Peer Reviewer, conferences: WebSci'25 Papers; NordiCHI'26 Papers; CHI'26 Posters; CUI'26 Papers; CUI'26 Short Papers & Works-in-Progress; EICS'26 Late-Breaking Results; IUI'26 Posters; TEI'26 Work-in-Progress; Wirtschaftsinformatik'26; AIES'26Program Committee Member, WebSci'25, NordiCHI'26, AIES'26
- 2026Workshop Organizer, CHI WorkshopSpecial Recognition for reviewing, CHI'26 Posters and NordiCHI'26 Papers
- 2024Participant, Hi! PARIS Summer School on AI & Data for Science, Business and Society
- 2017-23, 26Facilitator, Space Summer School at National Center of GIS & Space Applications
- 2015-23Resource Person, World Space Week at Institute of Space Technology
- 2017-21Keynote Speaker, 5th - 7th International Conference on Aerospace Science and Engineering
Awards
- 2023-24Climate Change Scholar for French Excellence Scholarship by Campus France
- 2017Salutatorian for Class of 2017 by Institute of Space TechnologyOutstanding Talent Award for Class of 2017 by Institute of Space Technology
- 2016-2017International Achievement Award for Class of 2017 by Institute of Space Technology
- 2015Bronze Medal for Poster Competition by Asian Science Camp
- 2013-17Cum Laude for Class of 2017 by Institute of Space Technology