Artificial Intelligence (AI) can transform education, civic engagement, and access to critical information. Yet, these benefits remain unevenly distributed, particularly in low-resource and conflict-affected settings where people often lack teachers, curricula, or institutional support. My research addresses this AI divide by designing “humanistic chatbots”, conversational agents (chatbots) that act as learning companions, supporting reflection, peer exchange, and aspirational growth in contexts where traditional systems fall short.

My current work asks: Can AI serve as a peer, a mentor, or a partner for inclusive research? I co-create chatbots with communities across cultures using participatory design methods and deploy these tools in small and large-scale deployments. My PhD included a Facebook chatbot for rural teachers in Côte d’Ivoire to foster professional development and peer learning -- reaching over 400 teachers and impacting over 10,000 students. During my postdoc, I’m exploring the role of generative AI to help Afghan women safely learn programming outside formal classrooms, and an LLM-powered pipeline that improves survey clarity and fairness across cultural contexts in South Africa and the U.S. 

My upcoming work explores new domains of public impact, i.e., can AI act as a civic guide, a sustainability coach, or even a counselor where human support is scarce? Projects include a Voting Advice chatbot in Germany, a microlearning bot for rural environmental stewards in India, and a multilingual wellness chatbot for youth and women in rural India. 

My research vision positions AI not merely as a technical solution, but as a collaborative process that listens, adapts, and evolves alongside the communities it seeks to serve.

Vikram Kamath Cannanure is a postdoctoral fellow at Saarland University, researching the role of AI in supporting marginalized audiences, such as the Global South. He completed his PhD at Carnegie Mellon University from the Human-Computer Interaction Institute. specializing in Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) and Information Technology and Development (ICTD). His work bridges HCI and Artificial Intelligence, emphasizing participatory and inclusive approaches. During his PhD at Carnegie Mellon University, he designed and evaluated a chatbot to support rural teachers in Côte d’Ivoire, fostering professional development through community-driven peer support. This project demonstrated how AI systems tailored to local contexts can enhance community support and impact. Beyond my thesis, He has led projects in Rwanda, Ghana, Macau, the US, Afghanistan, Germany, South Africa, and India. His contributions have been recognized at leading HCI conferences (CHI, ICTD, COMPASS) and through securing significant grant funding. Lastly, he has co-led the  “HCI Across Borders” initiative for the past five years, organizing workshops and creating networks to support global early-career researchers. Outside work, he is a long-distance swimmer who has completed charity swims. He has lived and worked on four continents, traveling to over 30 countries.