Workshop at the 14th International Conference on Human-Agent Interaction
Osaka, Japan
Human-Agent Interaction research has addressed topics such as trust, empathy, embodiment, explainability, adaptivity, and social interaction. As AI systems, conversational agents, robots, and virtual agents become more deeply involved in everyday life, HAI research is expanding toward broader questions concerning agency, responsibility, long-term relationships, coexistence, and the social roles of agents. Building on the success of the previous HAI Horizons workshop, HAI Horizons 2.0 provides early-career researchers with accessible opportunities to present their work in a short oral format. This year, the workshop places particular emphasis on communicating the passion and future vision behind each research project. Participants are encouraged to explain not only what they study, but also why they pursue it and what kind of agent, relationship, or society they hope to realize.
We invite early-career researchers in Human-Agent Interaction to submit proposals for short oral presentations at HAI Horizons 2.0.
This workshop welcomes completed studies, posters, work-in-progress projects, pilot studies, research plans, position statements, and future-oriented research ideas. We especially encourage submissions from researchers who have limited experience in oral presentations at international conferences.
Undergraduate students
Master’s students
PhD students
Postdoctoral researchers
Early-career faculty members
Early-career researchers
Researchers newly entering the HAI community
Poster or demo presenters at HAI 2026
Researchers with limited experience in oral presentations at international conferences
All applicants are asked to submit a Passion Statement beginning with:
I dream of...
The Passion Statement should describe the motivation, excitement, and future vision behind your research.
Please write 1–3 sentences addressing questions such as:
What fascinates you most about your research?
Why do you want to pursue this topic?
What kind of agent, relationship, or society do you hope to create?
The Passion Statement will be used for:
Selecting presenters
Introducing speakers during the workshop
Designing the panel discussion
Audience voting and awards
Please complete the Google Form linked on this page. All submissions must be made through this form. Please ensure you provide all the necessary information as requested.
After your abstract is accepted, we will ask you to submit your presentation materials at a later date.
If we receive a large number of applications, we may close abstract submissions early. We highly recommend submitting your abstract as soon as possible.
If you have any questions, please feel free to contact the workshop organizers: hai-horizons@googlegroups.com
Submission Deadline: September 18, October 19, 2026 (23:59 AoE).
Please apply to be a presenter at this workshop here: Google Form
Notification of Acceptance: October 24, 2026
Important Note on Publication:
Papers accepted to this workshop will NOT be published in the HAI 2026 ACM proceedings.
In recent years, social divisions arising from differences in values have intensified, creating an urgent need to redesign how people connect with one another. I have conducted research and development on dialogue AI robots that foster interpersonal connections. This work has established foundations for modeling dialogue, values, and social relationships, while advancing their deployment in real-world settings. I adopt a research approach that integrates AI and robot technology with humanities and social sciences to create a new research field: AI Robots Social Relationships Research. This presentation introduces the key studies that have contributed to pioneering this field.