About

Goal

The Human-Centric AI Center is dedicated to advancing emotionally intelligent AI through the research and design of intuitive, human-aligned systems. By training AI to recognize, respond to, and resonate with human emotion, we aim to create technologies that foster trust, empathy, and meaningful connection. Our goal is to ensure that AI services and devices not only serve, but also understand the people who use them.

Core Expertise

Developing Anthropomorphic Interfaces via Design Research and Proof-of-Concept Prototypes

#1

Creating Guidelines for Implementing Voice User Experiences (VUX)

#2

Developing Empathetic Virtual Humans

#3

Designing Affective AI via Emotionally Intelligent Model Development

#4

Director

Sung Jun Park
  • Director, Taejae Human-Centric AI Center
  • Associate Professor at Taejae University
RESEARCH INTEREST
Engineering Affective Social Artificial Intelligence
EDUCATION
  • Engineering Psychology (Ph.D.) at Georgia Institute of Technology (2009)
  • Engineering Psychology (M.S.) at Georgia Institute of Technology (2006)
  • Human-Computer Interaction (M.S.) at University of Michigan (2003)
  • Psychology (B.A.) at Korea University (2001)
EXPERIENCE
  • Director, AI+X Convergence Center, Sangmyung University (2024)
  • Assistant Professor at Sangmyung University (2022-2024)
  • Research Professor at Sangmyung University (2021-2022)
  • Professor at SCAD (2019-2021)
  • Tokyo Tech Research Fellow at Tokyo Institute of Technology (2018)
  • Principle UX Designer, AI Business Unit at SK Telecom (2015-2018)
  • Group Leader, UX Engineering Group at Samsung Electronics (2013-2014)
  • Senior UX Designer at Samsung Electronics (2009-2013)

Members

Soyoung Jung

Ph.D. Candidate

Research Interest
AI Agent, Mental Health Service , Voice based AI, VUI
Publication

Jung, S. / Kim, H. S. / Jeong, S. Y. / Lee, J. M. / Li, X. / Yoo, Y. J. / & Park, S. (2024)


Framework for Virtual Agent Interaction to Foster Empathy in Early School-Age Children. Proceedings of the Korean Society for Emotion and Sensibility Conference 2024 (pp. 149-151)

Patent
Republic of Korea
Patent 10-2024-0088516 (Applied)
Method and System for Improving Empathy in Infants and Young Children through Interactive Video Content Services.

Kim, H. S. / Lee, J. / Yoo, Y. / Jeong, S. / Jung, S. / Li, X / & Park, S.

July 4, 2024
Daeho Yoon

M. S., Emotion Engineering

Research Interest
AI Model Development, Facial Expression Recognition
Publication

Yoon, D. / & Park, S. (2023)


Developing Empathetic Virtual Humans: Mimicking User Facial and Eye Responses. Proceedings of the 19th International Conference on Multimedia Information Technology and Applications.

Patent
United States
Patent 18/657,909 (Applied)
Method for Real-Time Generation of Empathy Expression of Virtual Human Based on Multimodal Emotion Recognition and Artificial Intelligence System Using the Method
Park, S / Yoon, D / & Lee, J
May 8, 2024
Manseo Kim
Research Interest
AI Agent, Multimodal Generative AI
Publication
Kim, J. H / Jo, S. H / Jung, W. S / Kim, M. S / & Park, S (2024)

Developing a User-Centric Stepwise Comment Moderation AI Service: Balancing Free Expression and Respectful Online Interaction. Proceedings of the 22nd Triennial Congress of the International Ergonomics Association (IEA).
Patent
Republic of Korea
Patent 10-2023-0123130 (Applied)
Methods and Devices for Stepwise Purification of Sentences with Generative AI
Kim, Manseo / Kim, J / Ahn, S / Jung, W / Jo, S / & Park, S
September 15, 2023
Han Sol Kim
Research Interest
Multimodal Emotion Recognition, AI UX Development
Publication
Jung, S. Y / Kim, H. S / Jeong, S. Y / Lee, J. M / Li, X / Yoo, Y. J / & Park, S (2024)

Framework for Virtual Agent Interaction to Foster Empathy in Early School-Age Children. Proceedings of the Korean Society for Emotion and Sensibility Conference 2024 (pp. 149-151)
Patent
Republic of Korea
Patent 10-2024-0096488 (Applied)
AI-powered Discussion Analytics and Evaluation Feedback Service Methods and Systems
Kim, Han Sol / Noh, H / Byun, S / Moon, S / Kim, G / Lee, H / & Park, S
July 22, 2024
Seokho Jin
Research Interest
XAI, AI Agent, Multi-Modal RAG
Publication
(In Review)
Jin, S / Kim, M / Byun, S / Kim, H / Lee, J / & Park, S (2025)

Persode: Personalized Visual Journaling with Episodic Memory-Aware AI Agent
Patent
Republic of Korea
Patent No.10-2024-0099634 (Applied)
Image Analysis-based Question Generation and Answer Analysis System and Method
Lee, Jung Min / Jin, S / Lee, H / Kim, B / Lee, D / & Park, S
July 26, 2024
Sungho Byun
Research Interest
AI Agent, Generative AI UX Development
Patent
Republic of Korea
Patent 10-2024-0096488 (Applied)
AI-powered Discussion Analytics and Evaluation Feedback Service Methods and Systems
Kim, Han Sol / Noh, H / Byun, S / Moon, S / Kim, G / Lee, H / & Park, S
July 22, 2024

Alumni

empty thumb
Gil-dong Hong

Ph.D. Candidate

Research Interest
AI Agent, Mental Health Service , Voice based AI, VUI
Current affiliation
–
empty thumb
Gil-dong Hong

Ph.D. Candidate

Research Interest
AI Agent, Mental Health Service , Voice based AI, VUI
Current affiliation
–