Lois Wong

As the first AI Librarian at the University of Chicago, I manage an institutional strategic priority on AI, lead AI literacy initiatives in the library, and am building an AI evaluation framework to assess internal projects and vendor tools. I also co-founded a community of practice for AI practitioners in academic libraries, creating open resources to reduce redundant effort across institutions.

I have a BA in Linguistics from UC Berkeley and an MSE in Computer Science from Johns Hopkins University. This combination allows me to communicate effectively with technical and non-technical stakeholders and design how AI should be taught. Experiences across big tech, startups, nonprofits, and academia have given me a strong understanding how novel technologies like AI are built, integrated, and received in a variety of contexts and priorities.

Research interests: How archival silence and unrepresentative training data surface as algorithmic bias and model error & developing metrics, methods, and workflows to identify and mitigate these harms. Language models learn from data that disproportionately encode the ideas and perspectives of privileged groups, e.g. those historically afforded an education and platform, while underrepresenting others due to factors like data quality, language, and uneven digitization.

Projects

Gaita: A RAG System for Personalized Computer Science Education

Gaita is a conversational RAG system that generates personalized Computer Science learning pathways from open-access courseware. Inspired by my own transition into tech, Gaita was designed to make CS education accessible to learners from non-technical and non-traditional backgrounds.


AI from an Information Perspective (MOOC, In Progress)

This introductory AI course, currently being developed in collaboration with Sharesly Rodriguez, AI Librarian at SJSU, is designed for librarians and information professionals but offers a broader information-centered perspective into AI. It explores how challenges such as bias, data privacy, and consent are fundamentally information problems, and how advances in information and data continue to shape AI development.


Talks & Workshops

Upcoming Talks

Summer Institute in Social Research Methods Talk

June 23, 2026 11:45 PM | Workshop

Location: Booth School of Business, C25


Past Talks

AI in Academic Work: Capabilities, Limitations, and Responsible Use

May 11, 2026 12:15 PM | Guest Lecture, AI & Me Series, University of Chicago Law School

Location: D'Angelo Law Library, Room V

Slides


Working with AI at UChicago

May 4, 2026 1:30 PM | Guest Speaker, University of Chicago Exploratory Teaching Group (ETG)

Location: Wieboldt 310 D & E


AI in Academic Librarianship: What This Work Looks Like in Practice

April 16, 2026 7:00 PM EDT | Guest Speaker, University of South Carolina School of Information Science

Location: Virtual


What AI Can and Cannot Do

February 17, 2026 2:00 PM | Workshop, Grad @ UChicago

Demystifying what AI is and what it can and cannot do to help in the contexts of research and industry.

Location: UChicago GRAD Headquarters

Slides


Pulling the Wool Over AI

February 10, 2026 12:30 PM | Guest Lecture, HUMA 10001: Undergraduate Research—What, Why, and How

Learn about AI by seeing where and why it fails. Explore what AI excels at and where it falls short. In this session, we’ll focus on hallucination and what it teaches us about how AI works.


Using AI in Research and Writing

February 5, 2026 11:00 AM | Workshop, University of Chicago Center for Digital Scholarship

Introduction to AI tools in research and considerations for responsible use, including copyright, bias, and hallucination.

Location: Regenstein 101A

Slides


Pulling the Wool Over AI

November 18, 2025 3:00 PM | Workshop, University of Chicago Center for Digital Scholarship

Location: Regenstein 101A


Responsible AI Use in Humanities Research

October 24, 2025 2:00 PM | Guest lecture, GNSE Thesis Seminar

Introduction to AI tools in research and considerations for responsible use, including copyright, bias, and hallucination.


Gaita: a RAG System for Personalized Computer Science Education

September 18, 2024 10:00 AM | Research talk at Apple

Research talk presenting Gaita, a conversational AI system that generates personalized Computer Science learning pathways.

Slides