Akhila Yerukola
Hi! I am a third-year Ph.D. student at Carnegie Mellon University's School of Computer Science in the Language Technologies Institute. I am fortunate to be advised by Maarten Sap.
My research focuses on enhancing the reasoning and generation capabilities of language models across various contexts. The term "context" is often overloaded and can encompass local, global, and cultural factors. My goal is to improve the interaction experience for diverse groups of real-world users with technology.
Currently, my research spans two complementary areas:
→ Pragmatics and Ambiguous Language Understanding: I'm interested in improving how AI systems interpret underlying user intentions and ambiguous questions, often implicit in natural communication.
→ Cross-Cultural Safety and Understanding: I'm interested in developing culturally contextual safety guardrails to enhance AI systems' sensitivity and awareness. This involves studying nuanced cultural factors across multiple modalities, moving beyond the typical focus on coverage and diversity.
I have ~2.8 years experience as a Senior Research Engineer at the AI Center in Samsung Research America (SRA), where I was advised by Hongxia Jin. Prior to that, I earned my Masters in Computer Science from Stanford University, where I was part of the Stanford NLP Group under the guidance of Chris Manning. I completed my B.Tech in Computer Science from National Institute of Technology Tiruchirappalli (NIT Trichy), Tamil Nadu, India.
Email:
ayerukol [at] andrew.cmu.edu
News:
