collaborators

5 papers

cs.AI2026

Before Agents Decide: Epistemic Action in LLM-Based Systems

Yizhi Liu, Balaji Padmanabhan, Siva Viswanathan

Before a difficult decision, people often act simply to understand the situation better. We turn an object to see another side, place alternatives next to each other, or change one…

econ.EM2026

DIRECT: Decomposing Audience Preference and Creative Effect in Visual Content Analytics

Yizhi Liu, Balaji Padmanabhan, Siva Viswanathan

Which visual choices make a post perform better? A growing literature answers this question with pooled coefficients estimated across many creators, which platforms translate into…

cs.AI2026

Estimating Visual Attribute Effects in Advertising from Observational Data: A Deepfake-Informed Double Machine Learning Approach

Yizhi Liu, Balaji Padmanabhan, Siva Viswanathan

Digital advertising increasingly relies on visual content, yet marketers lack rigorous methods for understanding how specific visual attributes causally affect consumer engagement.…

cs.CY2025

What Exactly is a Deepfake?

Yizhi Liu, Balaji Padmanabhan, Siva Viswanathan

Deepfake technologies are often associated with deception, misinformation, and identity fraud, raising legitimate societal concerns. Yet such narratives may obscure a key insight:…

cs.CV2025

From Deception to Perception: The Surprising Benefits of Deepfakes for Detecting, Measuring, and Mitigating Bias

Yizhi Liu, Balaji Padmanabhan, Siva Viswanathan

While deepfake technologies have predominantly been criticized for potential misuse, our study demonstrates their significant potential as tools for detecting, measuring, and mitig…