Briana Vecchione
Technical Researcher, Data & Society Research Institute
Dr. Briana Vecchione is a technical researcher at Data & Society, where she investigates what happens when people turn to AI for socioemotional use—particularly with respect to mental health, therapeutic support, and the spectrum of AI companionship. More broadly, Dr. Vecchione is interested in algorithmic auditing and institutional accountability, focusing on developing user-centered methods and frameworks to inform the responsible design, evaluation, and regulation of AI in socioemotional contexts. She also serves as an institutional partner for Brown University’s AI Research Institute on Interaction for AI Assistants (ARIA), where she leads participatory, empirical research to inform the landscape of AI care and support. She holds a PhD in information science from Cornell University, and her work has received support from the NSF, MacArthur Foundation, Mozilla Foundation, Google, Meta, IBM, and Microsoft.