Mike Yao

Mike Yao is a Professor of Digital Media at the Charles H. Sandage Department of Advertising, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. He serves as Director of the Institute of Communications Research and holds courtesy appointments in Business Administration, Communication, and Biomedical and Translational Sciences. His work bridges interactive media, psychology, and advertising through both theoretical and applied research.

• Education: PhD in Communication from University of California, Santa Barbara; BA in Psychology & Film Studies

Mike Yao explores the social and psychological impacts of digital media, focusing on online privacy boundaries, AI-human interactions, and immersive technology effects. His recent work includes behavioral studies on AI recommendation systems, VR applications for special education, and digital surveillance acceptance. Articles frequently examine privacy psychology, anthropomorphism in AI, and telepresence in marketing across peer-reviewed journals like New Media and Society and Computers in Human Behavior.

His research team investigates human-machine communication dynamics through the Media, Technology, and Social Behavior Lab. Current projects examine AI bias reflection in human behavior, extended digital selves, and integrated theories of digitally mediated behavior. He presented COVID-19 media implications in the 2020 I on the Media lecture series.