arXiv subjects

Karthik S. Bhat

Publications and source records attributed to Karthik S. Bhat.

3 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Personalizing Personal Health Interfaces: Co-Design with Generative AI

Personal health interfaces present wellbeing data through standardized dashboards that rarely fit how people interpret or act on it. Personalizing them to what people would like to see for themselves often requires design and technical expertise, a barrier that generative AI may potentially lower. Therefore, we ask what designs emerge and how it enables and constrains the design process. We conducted a co-design study where 14 participants redesigned Google and Apple Health interfaces using Figma Make. Participants reimagined interfaces that supported personal context, future planning, and interactive experiences, yet conversational AI designs converged around chat-window conventions. AI helped materialize loosely articulated ideas, but model defaults and generation latency shaped iteration. The process more readily operationalized interpretability and accountability than privacy, trust, and emotional safety. Generative co-design let participants create interfaces directly, blurring the boundary between intentions and model defaults. We discuss implications for preserving agency and flexible user-directed interfaces.

cs.HC↗

arXiv2026

"In my defense, only three hours on Instagram": Designing Toward Digital Self-Awareness and Wellbeing

Screen use pervades daily life, shaping work, leisure, and social connections while raising concerns for digital wellbeing. Yet, reducing screen time alone risks oversimplifying technology's role and neglecting its potential for meaningful engagement. We posit self-awareness -- reflecting on one's digital behavior -- as a critical pathway to digital wellbeing. We developed WellScreen, a lightweight probe that scaffolds daily reflection by asking people to estimate and report smartphone use. In a two-week deployment with college students (N=25) focused on generating formative insights, we examined how discrepancies between estimated and actual usage shaped digital awareness and wellbeing. Participants often underestimated productivity and social media while overestimating entertainment app use. They showed a 10% improvement in positive affect, rating WellScreen as moderately useful. Interviews revealed that structured reflection supported recognition of patterns, adjustment of expectations, and more intentional engagement with technology. Our findings highlight the promise of lightweight reflective interventions for supporting self-awareness and intentional digital engagement, offering implications for designing digital wellbeing tools.

cs.HC↗

arXiv2026

Designing KRIYA: An AI Companion for Wellbeing Self-Reflection

Most personal wellbeing apps present summative dashboards of health and physical activity metrics, yet many users struggle to translate this information into meaningful understanding. These apps commonly support engagement through goals, reminders, and structured targets, which can reinforce comparison, judgment, and performance anxiety. To explore a complementary approach that prioritizes self-reflection, we design KRIYA, an AI wellbeing companion that supports co-interpretive engagement with personal wellbeing data. KRIYA aims to collaborate with users to explore questions, explanations, and future scenarios through features such as Comfort Zone, Detective Mode, and What-If Planning. We conducted semi-structured interviews with 18 college students interacting with a KRIYA prototype using hypothetical data. Our findings show that through KRIYA interaction, users framed engaging with wellbeing data as interpretation rather than performance, experienced reflection as supportive or pressuring depending on emotional framing, and developed trust through transparency. We discuss design implications for AI companions that support curiosity, self-compassion, and reflective sensemaking of personal health data.

cs.HC↗