Yunze Xiao

Yunze Xiao is a graduate student pursuing his MS in Language Technology at Carnegie Mellon University, where he works with Prof. Mona Diab on developing large language models that move beyond surface-level fluency toward genuine human-like intelligence. His research spans three intersecting directions across NLP, CSS, and HCI: studying anthropomorphism as a controllable modeling dimension, leveraging human-like attributes to improve LLM applications in domains like education and therapy, and designing novel architectures for synthetic human-likeness including memory modules and affective simulation. He has published work at top-tier venues including ACL, EMNLP, and LREC-COLING. Previously, he completed his BS in CMU Qatar and has conducted research at institutions including SUTD,QCRI, and NEU, contributing to advances in multilingual NLP, propaganda detection, and AI safety evaluation with the goal of building systems that engage users as intuitive, emotionally-aware collaborators.