About Doni

Doni Moon in hanbok by a lake — If you spot someone walking around CMU in hanbok, it's probably me!

Hello! My name is Doni (Hyeongdon) Moon! I am currently a PhD student at the Human-Computer Interaction Institute at Carnegie Mellon University. I study in an interdisciplinary field that explores how natural language processing can be used in learning sciences, the field that studies how humans learn. My main interest is student knowledge modeling, which infers changes in a student's knowledge from records of their interactions with learning platforms.

Before joining CMU, I completed my undergraduate degree in Computer Science at Korea University in Korea, and worked for three years on AI tutor R&D at Riiid (now Socra AI). After that, I completed only the coursework of the master's program in Computer Science at EPFL in Switzerland before coming to CMU. I regret not finishing my master's degree, but I was really glad to have the chance to study in Korea, Europe, and the United States!

Since my high school graduation research on cognitive architectures, I have thought about the future on the premise that strong artificial intelligence will emerge. Captivated by the 'responsibility as a scientist' emphasized at my science high school, I was caught in the question: what kind of safety net should I design so that I can coexist with the enormous AI I will create? Although my undergraduate major was computer science, I actually devoted most of my time and passion to studying ontology, epistemology, brain science, psychology, and so on. After repeatedly thinking about my own ethics and practical approaches, I concretized the concept of 'Learning Income,' decided on a career path in learning science, and then served as an industrial service worker at Riiid, the best environment for that research.

Then the era of ChatGPT came, and many things changed. I had originally intended to remain an engineer even after finishing my PhD, until I became a tenured professor, and to avoid academic activities in the humanities, but the change seems far faster than I expected. I believe that if we miss the right time, it may become impossible to defend democracy. That is why I want to start sharing my opinions with many people from now on. I look forward to your many teachings. Thank you!