About
I’m Taenyun Kim, a postdoctoral researcher at the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems. Inspired by Dr. Susan Calvin in Isaac Asimov’s I, Robot, I describe myself as a robopsychologist.
I earned my PhD in Information and Media, with a Graduate Specialization in Cognitive Science, at Michigan State University. Previously, I studied Psychology, Informatics, and Interaction Science at Sungkyunkwan University.
My research explores human–AI/robot coexistence, examining how people understand, trust, and make moral judgments about AI and robots. I focus on the mental models people form of these systems, how trust develops through interaction, and how people evaluate their decisions and moral standing. To learn more, visit my Research page.
I welcome research collaborations—please feel free to get in touch.
Selected Publications
- 2026
Participatory Moral AI Is Not Neutral: The Invisible Hand of Developers
Taenyun Kim, Edyta Bogucka, & Daniele Quercia
Proceedings of the AAAI/ACM Conference on AI, Ethics, and Society, 9(3), 1538–1550
- 2025
Too Much Is as Bad as Too Little: The Impact of Implementing Multiple Social Interaction Features on Trust and Acceptance of Automated Vehicle Agents
Taenyun Kim, Yeosol Song, Doha Kim, & Hayeon Song
International Journal of Human–Computer Interaction, 41(21), 13875–13890
- 2025
Do we want AI judges? The acceptance of AI judges’ judicial decision-making on moral foundations
Taenyun Kim & Wei Peng
AI & Society, 40, 3683–3696
- 2023
One AI Does Not Fit All: A Cluster Analysis of the Laypeople’s Perception of AI Roles
Taenyun Kim, Maria D. Molina, Minjin (MJ) Rheu, Emily S. Zhan, & Wei Peng
Proceedings of the CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI ’23), Article 29, 1–20
- 2021
How should intelligent agents apologize to restore trust? Interaction effects between anthropomorphism and apology attribution on trust repair
Taenyun Kim & Hayeon Song
Telematics and Informatics, 61, 101595