I'm a Technical Researcher with the AI on the Ground team at the Data & Society Research Institute and a partner lead for Brown University's AI Research Institute on Interaction for AI Assistants (ARIA).

At Data & Society, I study technologies of health and care. Specifically, I research what happens when people turn to AI for mental health, therapy, companionship, and other forms of social and emotional use. My work investigates what it would take to build, evaluate, and regulate these tools in ways that respect and represent the people using them — grounded in participatory and longitudinal methods and committed to treating lived experience as expertise. This orientation extends into my policy, advocacy, and community engagement work.

At ARIA, my responsibilities are twofold: First, I lead longitudinal, qualitative research following people from diverse backgrounds as they use AI assistants for companionship and mental health support in the course of their daily lives. Second, I coordinate a stakeholder-driven process to establish shared requirements, evaluation strategies, and governance frameworks for AI systems in the mental and behavioral health space, with the goal of producing an actionable playbook usable across ARIA institutions.

Previously, my work centered more broadly on algorithmic auditing and institutional accountability. This included foundational work on dataset transparency (Datasheets for Datasets, CACM 2021), the history and social justice dimensions of audit methodologies (Algorithmic Auditing and Social Justice, EAAMO 2021), and empirical studies of audit tooling gaps and regulatory compliance in practice — including work on New York City's algorithmic bias audit law (Auditing Work, FAccT 2024, Best Paper Award; Null Compliance, FAccT 2024).

I hold a Ph.D. and M.S. in Information Science from Cornell University and a B.S. in Computer Science from Pace University. My work has been supported by Google, Facebook (Meta), Microsoft, the National Science Foundation, the MacArthur Foundation, the Mozilla Foundation, and the Notre Dame–IBM Tech Ethics Lab, among others.

You can contact me via:
Email: briana [at] datasociety [dot] net
Bluesky: @briana-v.bsky.social
LinkedIn: /in/brianavecchione/

Publications

A consensus-based reporting checklist for large language models in behavioral and social science
Feuerriegel, S., Barrie, C., Crockett, M. J., Globig, L. K., McLoughlin, K. L., Mirea, D.-M., Spirling, A., Yang, D., ...Vecchione, B.,...Rathje, S., & Ribeiro, M. H.
2026. (Under review)

A Chatbot for the Soul: Mental Health Care, Privacy, and Intimacy in AI-Based Conversational Agents *
Tamara Kneese, Briana Vecchione, Alice Marwick
Commun. Change 1, 15 (2025).

AI is Mental: Evaluating the Role of LLMs in Supporting Mental Health and Well-Being *
Briana Vecchione, Ranjit Singh
Big Data & Society. 2025.

Red-Teaming in the Public Interest
Ranjit Singh, Borhane Blili-Hamelin, Carol Anderson, Emnet Tafesse, Briana Vecchione, Beth Duckles, Jacob Metcalf
Data & Society. 2025.

Towards AI Accountability Infrastructure: Gaps and Opportunities in AI Audit Tooling *
Victor Ojewale, Ryan Steed, Briana Vecchione, Abeba Birhane, Inioluwa Deborah Raji
ACM CHI 2025.

Algorithm Auditing: The Broken Bus on the Road to Algorithm Accountability *
Abeba Birhane, Ryan Steed, Victor Ojewale, Briana Vecchione, Inioluwa Deborah Raji
IEEE SaTML 2024.

Auditing Work: Exploring the New York City Algorithmic Bias Audit Regime *
Lara Groves, Jacob Metcalf, Alayna Kennedy, Briana Vecchione, Andrew Strait
ACM FAccT 2024. Best Paper Award

Null Compliance: NYC Local Law 144 and the Challenges of Algorithm Accountability *
Lucas Wright, Roxana Muenster, Briana Vecchione, Tianyao Qu, Pika (Senhuang) Cai, Alan Smith, COMM/INFO 2450 Student Investigators, Jacob Metcalf, J. Nathan Matias
ACM FAccT 2024.

Navigating the Complexities of Algorithmic Auditing: Challenges and Considerations
Briana Vecchione
Cornell University. 2023.

Algorithmic Auditing and Social Justice: Lessons from the History of Audit Studies *
Briana Vecchione, Solon Barocas, Karen Levy
ACM EAAMO 2021.

Datasheets for Datasets *
Timnit Gebru, Jamie Morgenstern, Briana Vecchione, Jennifer Wortman Vaughan, Hanna Wallach, Hal Daumé III, Kate Crawford
ACM CACM 2021. (Short version: ACM FAccT 2018)

Recommending Podcasts for Cold-Start Users Based on Music Listening and Taste *
Zahra Nazari, Christophe Charbuillet, Johan Pages, Martin Laurent, Denis Charrier, Briana Vecchione, Benjamin Carterette
ACM SIGIR 2020.

Public Writing & Policy

All the Lonely People, Where Do They All Belong? On Being Alone With Digital Companions
Briana Vecchione, Livia Garofalo
Data & Society Points Blog. 2025.

What Happens When People Turn to Chatbots for Therapy?
Briana Vecchione
Data & Society Points Blog. 2025.

Chatbots in Disguise: How Participants Use GenAI to Hack Qualitative Research
Ranjit Singh, Livia Garofalo, Briana Vecchione, Emnet Tafesse
Data & Society Points Blog. 2025.

Spiritual Chatbots in Uncertain Times
Tamara Kneese, Briana Vecchione
ASAP/15 Special Issue, 2025.

Algorithms and the Occult, or Chatbots are the New Psychic Friends Network
Tamara Kneese, Jeffrey Moro, Briana Vecchione
ASAP/15, Special Issue, 2025.

The Algorithmic Impact Methods Lab: Methods from the Field
Tamara Kneese, Briana Vecchione, Ranjit Singh, Emnet Tafesse, Meg Young, Jacob Metcalf
Data & Society Points Blog. 2024.

NTIA x OAT: Comment on FR Doc #2023-07776
Raji, Inioluwa Deborah, Abeba Birhane, Briana Vecchione, Ryan Steed, and Victor Ojewale. 2023. Submitted to the U.S. Department of Commerce, National Telecommunications and Information Administration Request for Comment on AI Accountability Policy (2023).

Mozilla Open Source Audit Tooling (OAT) Project: Comment on FR Doc #2023-28232.
Raji, Inioluwa Deborah, Abeba Birhane, Briana Vecchione, Ryan Steed, and Victor Ojewale. 2023. Submitted in response to the U.S. Department of Commerce, National Institute of Standards and Technology Request for Information on AI (2023).

Defining Public Interest Technology: Key Questions to Consider
Briana Vecchione
Cornell Tech Digital Life Initiative. 2022. (Workshopped at CSCW 2022)

Addressing Economic Inequality in NYC through Social Impact Tech Research at Blue Ridge Labs
Briana Vecchione
Cornell Tech Public Interest Technology Initiative. 2021.

Select Talks, Workshops, & Engagements

Databite No. 165: Mental Health, Chatbots, and the Future of Care
Panelists: Luca Belli, Miranda Bogen, Marlynn Wei
Moderators: Livia Garofalo, Briana Vecchione
Data & Society Research Institute. February 2026.

Generative Conversations: Mental Health, Chatbots, and the Future of Care
Livia Garofalo and Briana Vecchione
Data & Society Research Institute (closed workshop). February 2026.

AI Companions and Mental Health Panel
Briana Vecchione, Julian De Freitas, Emily Weinstein
Yale Digital Ethics Center, Digital Vulnerabilities in the Age of AI Summit (DIVAS). December 2025.

Talking to Machines: How LLMs Are Changing Mental Health Support in the Age of AI
Briana Vecchione
University of Pennsylvania: PennAITech Collaboratory for Healthy Aging. November 2025.

Mind, Machine, and Me: Mental Health Chatbots and Techno-selfhood
Livia Garofalo, Briana Vecchione
Society for Social Studies of Science (4S). September 2025.

Mind, Machine, and Me: Mental Health Chatbots and Techno-selfhood
Livia Garofalo, Briana Vecchione
Italian Society for the Study of Science and Technology (STS Italia). June 2025.

Databite No. 161: Red-Teaming Generative AI Harm
Lama Ahmad, Camille François, Tarleton Gillespie, Briana Vecchione, Borhane Blili-Hamelin
Data & Society. March 2025.

Algorithms and the Occult, or Chatbots are the New Psychic Friends Network
Tamara Kneese, Briana Vecchione
ASAP/15. New York, NY. October 2024.

Guest Lecture: Algorithmic Auditing: Challenges and Considerations
Briana Vecchione
University of Pennsylvania, CIS7000 Algorithmic Justice. March 2024. [Remote]

Auditing AI Workshop
Briana Vecchione
Notre Dame–IBM Technology Ethics Lab. June 2023. Notre Dame, IN.

Who Has an Interest in “Public Interest Technology”? Critical Questions for Working with Local Governments & Impacted Communities
Briana Vecchione
Conference on Computer-Supported Cooperative Work & Social Computing (CSCW). November 2022. [Remote]

Navigating the Algorithm Audit Tooling Landscape
Briana Vecchione
Mozilla All Hands, Trustworthy AI "Big Ideas". September 2022. Waikiki, HI.

Algorithmic Auditing for Social Justice
Briana Vecchione
ACM Conference on Equity and Access in Algorithms, Mechanisms, and Optimization (EAAMO). October 2021. [Remote]