Lize Alberts

Doctoral Candidate, Research Fellow

Biography

I am a DPhil candidate in Computer Science at the University of Oxford, focusing on constructive and respectful human-AI interaction. As Student Researcher at Google, I led a project on agentic LLM evaluation and personalised (context-sensitive) alignment. I am also a Research Fellow at Stellenbosch University’s Unit for the Ethics of Technology, and a Research Assistant at Leverhulme Centre for the Future of Intelligence at Cambridge .

With a unique multi-disciplinary background, I work at the intersection of computer science, user-centred design, empirical social scientific research, linguistics, philosophy, cognitive science, and behavioural science. By integrating these diverse perspectives—social, technical, conceptual, and theoretical—I work towards responsible AI development in ways that are practical, grounded, and analytically rigorous.

Interests

Human-Centred AI
LLM Evaluation & Alignment
Interaction/Behavioural Design Ethics
Cognitive & Computational linguistics
The Philosophy of Mind & Language
Wellbeing-Supportive Technologies

Education

D.Phil. in Computer Science, finalising
University of Oxford
M.A. by Thesis in Philosophy (Distinction, 84%), 2020
Stellenbosch University
B.A. Hons. in Philosophy (Distinction, 82%), 2019
Stellenbosch University
B.A. in Humanities (Distinction, 82%), 2018
North-West University

Recent Publications

Lize Alberts, Ulrik Lyngs, Kai Lukoff (2024). Designing for Sustained Motivation: A Review of Self-Determination Theory in Behaviour Change Technologies. Accepted at Interacting with Computers: Special Issue on Self-Determination Theory in HCI. https://doi.org/10.1093/iwc/iwae040.

PDF DOI

Arianna Manzini, Geoff Keeling, Lize Alberts, Shannon Vallor, Meredith Ringel Morris, Iason Gabriel (2024). Beyond Interaction: Investigating the Appropriateness of Human-AI Assistant Relationships. Accepted at AAAI Conference on AI, Ethics, and Society (AIES).

Lize Alberts, Geoff Keeling, Amanda McCroskery (2024). Should Agentic Conversational AI Change How We Think About Ethics? Characterising an Interactional Ethics Centred on Respect. arXiv:2401.09082v2 [cs.CL].

PDF DOI

Lize Alberts, Ulrik Lyngs, Max Van Kleek (2024). Computers as Bad Social Actors: Dark and Anti-Patterns in Interfaces that Act Socially. Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction, Volume 8, Issue CSCW1, Article No. 202, pp 1–25.

PDF DOI

Iason Gabriel, Arianna Manzini, Geoff Keeling, Lisa Anne Hendricks, Verena Rieser, Hasan Iqbal, Nenad Tomašev, Ira Ktena, Zachary Kenton, Mikel Rodriguez, Seliem El-Sayed, Sasha Brown, Canfer Akbulut, Andrew Trask, Edward Hughes, A. Stevie Bergman, Renee Shelby, Nahema Marchal, Conor Griffin, Juan Mateos-Garcia, Laura Weidinger, Winnie Street, Benjamin Lange, Alex Ingerman, Alison Lentz, Reed Enger, Andrew Barakat, Victoria Krakovna, John Oliver Siy, Zeb Kurth-Nelson, Amanda McCroskery, Vijay Bolina, Harry Law, Murray Shanahan, Lize Alberts, Borja Balle, Sarah De Haas, Yetunde Ibitoye, Allan Dafoe, Beth Goldberg, Sébastien Krier, Alexander Reese, Sims Witherspoon, Will Hawkins, Maribeth Rauh, Don Wallace, Matija Franklin, Josh A. Goldstein, Joel Lehman, Michael Klenk, Shannon Vallor, Courtney Biles, Meredith Ringel Morris, Helen King, Blaise Agüera Y Arcas, William Isaac, James Manyika (2024). The Ethics of Advanced AI Assistants. Google DeepMind.

PDF DOI

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Work & Organisational Experience

Leader of Masterclass in Computer Science

Royal Institution

March 2023 – Present Oxford, UK

I designed a Royal Institution Masterclass on Dark Patterns that I lead annually at the University of Oxford.

Student Researcher

Google

July 2023 – October 2023 London, UK

I worked for three months as a student researcher in the Cerebra team at Google. I led a project on the evaluation of agentic Large Language Models (LLMs), and proposed a novel ethical framework centred on duties of respectful treatment in interaction.

Student Ambassador

Jesus College, The University of Oxford

April 2024 – June 2024 Oxford, UK

I was asked to design and lead a computer science workshop for Welsh state schoolchildren for Jesus College’s annual Women in Sciences Day.

Graduate Research Assistant & Teaching Assistant

University of Oxford

April 2020 – November 2022 Oxford, UK

I worked as an RA for the EPSRC-funded RoboTIPS project taking a Responsible Innovation approach to the research and development of social robots. I also helped teach two Software Engineering courses (Interaction Design, Requirements Engineering) and two Computer Science courses (Ethical Computing in Practice, Ethics and Responsible Innovation).

Co-founder of RTI Student Network

Responsible Technology Institute

November 2020 – January 2024 Oxford, UK

The RTI is an international centre of excellence on responsible technology. I co-founded its international student network connecting researchers interested in topics related to responsible innovation. I help to organise reading groups, expert panel discussions, and work-in-progress seminars.