Werner Geyer
Shaping the Future of Human-AI Collaboration
Principal Research Scientist and ACM Distinguished Member — a strategic AI and UX research and innovation leader with 25 years of experience combining vision-setting with hands-on engineering expertise. My work focuses on designing, building, and validating intelligent systems that enable trustworthy, safe, and effective human-AI interaction across enterprise environments.
I am particularly interested in how generative AI, large language models, and AI agents can be integrated into real workflows to improve productivity, sensemaking, and decision-making—while preserving human agency and oversight.
Research & Leadership
As Chief Scientist for Human-Centered Trustworthy AI at IBM Research, I lead research and prototyping on evaluation, transparency, and user experience for generative AI. My recent work includes open-source contributions to EvalAssist and Qux360, developing methods and tooling for AI-assisted qualitative analysis, and advancing research on LLM-as-a-Judge, explainability, and human oversight.
My research approach combines designing prototypes, conducting user studies, and validating impact in real-world workflows—ensuring that innovations move from concept to production. Beyond strategy and vision-setting, I remain deeply hands-on—personally coding prototypes, building systems, and engineering solutions that demonstrate the feasibility and impact of new AI capabilities.
Throughout my career, I have led interdisciplinary teams of HCI researchers, AI scientists, software engineers, and designers, partnering closely with product organizations to transition research into enterprise-scale systems. This work has contributed to products including AutoAI, Watson Orchestrate, Watson Assistant, FactSheets, AuthorWorkbench, and earlier enterprise social platforms such as IBM Connections and Enterprise Crowdfunding.
Academics & Awards
I actively contribute to the academic community through service on conference organizing and program committees, and as a reviewer and invited speaker at premier venues including CHI, CHIWORK, CSCW, IUI, DIS, ACL, and NeurIPS. With over 110 peer-reviewed publications (h-index: 46) and 40+ patents, my work has been recognized with 6 Best Paper Awards, 12 IBM Outstanding Technical Achievement Awards, the ACM SIGCHI Outstanding Reviewer Award (2025), and the ACM Service Award (2016) for serving as General Chair of RecSys 2016.
As an ACM Distinguished Member (2024), I remain committed to advancing research quality and rigor in human-computer interaction. I am also the founding editor of the Human-Centered AI publication on Medium (2023), dedicated to advancing the conversation around responsible AI development.
Mission & Vision
I am committed to shaping responsible, human-aligned AI systems that enhance productivity and decision-making while ensuring trust, transparency, and meaningful human involvement. Through vision-setting, hands-on technical execution, and rigorous validation, I work to ensure AI systems are not only powerful but also trustworthy, transparent, and aligned with human values.
I believe that the future of AI lies not in replacing human judgment, but in augmenting it—creating tools that amplify our capabilities while respecting our values and agency. I'm always open to collaborations at the intersection of AI, user experience, and organizational workflows. Let's build AI systems that truly serve people.