Dr. Ben Z. Zhang
Assistant Professor, Ph.D., University of Michigan 
Ben Zhang (he/him) is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Technology and Society at the College of Engineering and Applied Sciences (CEAS). Dr. Zhang’s research focuses on the production and sociotechnical impacts of AI-enabled systems in critical areas (e.g., work, health, education, and mobility) to advance theory and inform more equitable and human-centered design and policy interventions. To achieve this, he employs a life-cycle-centered, multi-method approach to analyze the promises, inequalities, and invisible labor embedded in AI infrastructures, from development and deployment to governance.
Drawing on training in applied data science and sociocultural ethnography, his work examines how responsible approaches can be integrated throughout the lifecycle of AI-enabled systems. Specifically, he focuses on: (1) AI production and data infrastructures; (2) work, health, mobility, and sustainability in the context of global development; and (3) sociotechnical strategies to reduce harm and promote responsible computing.
His research has been published in leading computing venues, including ACM CHI, ACM CSCW, ACM GROUP, AAAI ICWSM, and the Journal of Collaborative Computing and Work Practices (JCSCW), as well as interdisciplinary venues such as SMSociety, 4S, and AoIR. His work has been supported by grants and fellowships, from the International Institute, the Lieberthal-Rogel Center for Chinese Studies, the Rackham Graduate School at the University of Michigan, and the Weizenbaum Institute in Germany.
Dr. Zhang received his Ph.D. in 2025 from the University of Michigan’s School of Information, along with a graduate certificate in Science, Technology, and Society (STS). He holds an M.S. in Applied Data Science from Syracuse University and a B.A. from the University of Indianapolis. Before entering academia, he worked as a journalist and feature writer at an international news outlet.
Selected Publications:
(*denotes equal contribution)
Zhang, B. Z., Das, D., & Semaan, B. (2025). Identity Alignment and the Sociotechnical Reconfigurations of Emotional Labor in Transnational Gig-education Platforms. Computer Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW), 1-46.
Zhang, B. Z., Yang, T., Miceli, M., Haimson, O. L., & Thomas, M. (2025). The Making of Performative Accuracy in AI Training: Precision Labor and Its Consequences. In Proceedings of the 2025 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (pp. 1-19).
Kojah, S. A., Zhang, B. Z., Are, C., Delmonaco, D., & Haimson, O. L. (2025). " Dialing it Back:" Shadowbanning, Invisible Digital Labor, and how Marginalized Content Creators Attempt to Mitigate the Impacts of Opaque Platform Governance. Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction, 9(1), 1-22.
Pyle, C., *Zhang, B. Z., Haimson, O. L., & Andalibi, N. (2024). " I'm Constantly in This Dilemma": How Migrant Technology Professionals Perceive Social Media Recommendation Algorithms. Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction, 8(CSCW1), 1-33.
Xian, L., Li, L., Xu, Y., Zhang, B. Z., & Hemphill, L. (2024). Landscape of generative AI in global news: topics, sentiments, and spatiotemporal analysis. In Proceedings of the International AAAI Conference on Web and Social Media (Vol. 18, pp. 1661-1673).
Tracey, P., *Zhang, B. Z., Patricia G., Haimson, O. L., & Thomas, M. The technopolitics of waiting: Case studies of AI training in China and homeless services systems in the US. AoIR Selected Papers of Internet Research (2024).
Zhang, B. Z. (2023). The Labor of Training Artificial Intelligence: Data Infrastructure, Mobility, and Marginality. In Companion Publication of the 2023 Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work and Social Computing.
Zhang, B. Z., Haimson, O. L., & Thomas, M. (2022). The Chinese diaspora and the attempted WeChat ban: platform precarity, anticipated impacts, and infrastructural migration. Proceedings of the ACM on human-computer interaction, 6(CSCW2), 1-29.
Corvite, S., Zhang, B. Z., & Haimson, O. L. (2022). Social Media's Role During Identity Changes Related to Major Life Events. Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction, 6(CSCW2), 1-22.
*Zhang, B. Z., *Liu, T., *Corvite, S., Andalibi, N., & Haimson, O. L. (2022). Separate online networks during life transitions: Support, identity, and challenges in social media and online communities. Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction, 6(CSCW2), 1-30.
Haimson, O. L., Liu, T., Zhang, B. Z., & Corvite, S. (2021). The online authenticity paradox: What being" authentic" on social media means, and barriers to achieving it. Proceedings of the ACM on human-computer interaction, 5(CSCW2), 1-18.
Additional Links:
Email: ben.z.zhang@stonybrook.edu