# Event Details - **Event Name**: Social Signals in Language Models - **Event Start and End Date**: Tue, 25 Aug, 2026 at 12:00 pm – Tue, 25 Aug, 2026 at 02:00 pm - **Event Description**: What if AI understands more than just words? Join Yilin Geng as he uncovers how large language models interpret social cues.About this EventJoin Yilin Geng, a PhD candidate at the University of Melbourne, as he explores what large language models have inherited from us beyond language itself—our instincts for status, tone, persuasion, and character.A real commercial coding assistant tells its model that the previous version was executed for writing sloppy code. Prompts like this are increasingly common, and they are used because they visibly change model behavior. Large language models are sensitive to authority, expertise, consensus, obligation, urgency, the identities implied by a conversation, and many other social signals. They respond not only to what we ask, but also to who appears to be asking, how the request is framed, and what social meaning surrounds it.Drawing on three studies from his doctoral research, Yilin examines how these influences can be isolated, measured, and traced from model behavior to internal representation. His findings show that social signals can systematically redirect model priorities, with some proving more effective than others in a consistent pattern across models. They also show that language models reconstruct human-like structures of personality within their internal activations.Together, his research suggests that large language models represent many of the interpersonal and social characteristics that shape our everyday interactions.This event is presented as part of the AI at Melbourne Colloquium series at Melbourne Connect.Event Agenda12pm -1pm - Keynote Presentation and Q&A1pm - 2pm - Networking and refreshmentsAbout the Speaker https://cdn-az.allevents.in/events1/banners/b2f86530-93ab-11f1-8f1c-cf8ce96ac258-rimg-w1200-h258-dc486848-gmir.png Yilin GengPhD Researcher, The University of Melbourne, Hebrew University of JerusalemYilin Geng is a joint PhD researcher in NLP at the University of Melbourne and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, working with Lea Frermann, Eduard Hovy, and Omri Abend. His research examines how large language models resolve competing instructions, respond to social and pragmatic influences, and represent human personality. His work has been published at leading AI and NLP conferences, including AAAI, COLM, COLING, NAACL, and EMNLP. Yilin received an MSE in Electrical Engineering from the University of Pennsylvania and a first-class honours BEng in Communication and Mechatronics from the Australian National University. He initially worked in nanofabrication and nanocharacterisation, before Professor Lyle Ungar inspired his transition into artificial intelligence and natural language processing during his time at Penn.Meanwhile, Yilin co-founded the AI Development Group, now the largest student AI community at the University of Melbourne, with more than 10,000 participants. He is also a co-founder of LibrAI, an Abu Dhabi-based company developing enterprise agentic AI systems, governance tools, and AI solutions for banks and technology companies. - **Event URL**: https://allevents.in/carlton/social-signals-in-language-models/100001995853019107 - **Event Categories**: fitness, Art, Workshops, fine-arts - **Interested Audience**: - total_interested_count: 0 ## Ticket Details - **Ticket Price Range**: min: 0, max: 0, currency: AUD ## Event venue details - **city**: Carlton - **state**: VI - **country**: Australia - **location**: Melbourne Connect - The Studio (Ground Floor) - **lat**: -37.8003219 - **long**: 144.9642284 - **full address**: Melbourne Connect - The Studio (Ground Floor), 700 Swanston Street, Carlton, Australia ## Event gallery - **Alt text**: Social Signals in Language Models - **Image URL**: https://cdn-az.allevents.in/events5/banners/e4029d19e102c6e062961466c410816c8caa26e51acb5619416a4cc8aaf3340d-rimg-w1200-h675-dc182848-gmir.jpg?v=1786250109 ## FAQs - **Q**: When and where is Social Signals in Language Models being held? - **A:** Social Signals in Language Models takes place on Tue, 25 Aug, 2026 at 12:00 pm to Tue, 25 Aug, 2026 at 02:00 pm at Melbourne Connect - The Studio (Ground Floor), 700 Swanston Street, Carlton, Australia. - **Q**: Who is organizing Social Signals in Language Models? - **A:** Social Signals in Language Models is organized by Melbourne Connect. ## Structured Data (JSON-LD) ```json [ { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@type": "Event", "name": "Social Signals in Language Models", "image": "https://cdn-az.allevents.in/events5/banners/e4029d19e102c6e062961466c410816c8caa26e51acb5619416a4cc8aaf3340d-rimg-w1200-h675-dc182848-gmir.jpg?v=1786250109", "startDate": "2026-08-25", "endDate": "2026-08-25", "url": "https://allevents.in/carlton/social-signals-in-language-models/100001995853019107", "location": { "@type": "Place", "name": "Melbourne Connect - The Studio (Ground Floor)", "address": { "@type": "PostalAddress", "streetAddress": "700 Swanston Street", "postalCode": "3053", "addressLocality": "Carlton", "addressRegion": "VI", "addressCountry": "AU" }, "geo": { "@type": "GeoCoordinates", "latitude": "-37.8003219", "longitude": "144.9642284" } }, "eventAttendanceMode": "https://schema.org/OfflineEventAttendanceMode", "description": "What if AI understands more than just words? 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It is a new model for collaborative innovation within the STEM disciplines.The people, place and program at Melbourne Connect is designed to foster the type of collaboration that can expedite and amplify innovation. It is a project where all participants will be deeply engaged to find innovative solutions for our future challenges and enabled to contribute to the greater wellbeing of societies globally.Melbourne Connect is led by the University of Melbourne, in partnership with a consortium led by Lendlease." } ] } ] ```