Prof. Maristella Matera from the Department of Electronics, Information and Bioengineering – Politecnico di Milano has won the Google Award for Society-Centered AI for her project Direct Manipulation in Multimodal Intent-Based User Interfaces.
The research will investigate how the principles of direct manipulation—well established in graphical interface design—can be reimagined for multimodal, intent-driven interfaces, overcoming the limitations of current interaction modes with systems based on large language models.
The project will explore context-aware mechanisms that enable users to inspect, modify, and refine prompts and outputs in a natural, explainable and controllable way, even without relying on traditional graphical interfaces. Through these new mechanisms, the project aims to support a crucial shift toward greater accessibility and usability of generative artificial intelligence systems, laying the foundation for long-term benefits in all domains where equitable access to knowledge is essential.