UCI Informatics

Informatics and education professor Bill Tomlinson thinks AI can do better. Much Better. 🌟👩‍💻

His project "An AI That’s a Better Friend," with Rebecca W. Black, Donald J. Patterson, Anne Marie Piper, and Andrew W. Torrance, isn’t just another chatbot. It’s designed to form synthetic social relationships — meaning it remembers past conversations, builds an emotional history, and develops a genuine sense of continuity with users. 💡

Read more: bit.ly/456kY8E

An AI That’s a Better Friend—And Maybe a Lifeline for Humanity By Jill Kato, UCI Beall Applied Innovation Most AI chatbots feel like a goldfish. You have a conversation, maybe even a deep one, and the next time you

Senior Spotlight: Tim Kashani ✨

From filming b-roll footage for his father to immersing himself in the fantastic worlds of his favorite games, Tim Kashani grew up surrounded by art and creativity. His early exposure to artistic expression shaped his passion for storytelling and game development, eventually leading him to UC Irvine to study game design and interactive media.

Read: bit.ly/3EFdwXm

Senior Spotlight: Tim Kashani Levels Up in GDIM Program From filming b-roll footage for his father to immersing himself in the fantastic worlds of his favorite games, Tim Kashani grew up surrounded by art and

“The CLL doesn’t just bring people together to foster conversations; it develops capacity among faculty and students to communicate their work to external audiences.”

So thrilled to announce 2 milestones: our official approval as a cross-campus research institute, and the opening of our new 1250 square-foot collaborative workspace! 🎉🎊

We’re happy for the recognition of our work advancing youth wellbeing and learn-centered, equity oriented approaches to technology. CLL will continue to foster connections across not only disciplines but also culture and sectors of society, supporting healthy youth development and thriving communities in today’s digital world.

”I’ve been delighted to see the growth of the CLL. It has transitioned from an ICS center to a full ORU that connects our school’s expertise in computing with colleagues across campus working in education, health, and youth development.” - Marios Papaefthymiou, Dean at Donald Bren School of Information and Computer Sciences at UC Irvine

🌟 Read the announcement here by Shani Murray: https://connectedlearning.news/CLL-marks-milestones

Mizuko Ito Kylie Peppler
Donald Bren School of Information & Computer Sciences at UC Irvine UCI School of Education UCI School of Social Ecology UC Irvine School of Social Sciences

Congratulations to ICS researchers Steven Ngo, Jessy Ayala and Joshua Garcia for receiving a top award as one of six winners of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s Building an Adaptive and Competitive Workforce track through the Tools Competition!

They are developing Codesafe, a free educational platform that addresses gaps in traditional computer science curricula by focusing on code comprehension, software engineering, and software security. 💻📚

Read: bit.ly/413MXnb

UC Irvine’s Codesafe Platform Wins $50,000 in Global EdTech Competition A trio of researchers from UC Irvine’s Donald Bren School of Information and Computer Sciences (ICS) received a top award as one of six winners of the