Naima Sultana
Author directory2026
In Generative AI We (Dis)Trust? Computational Analysis of Trust and Distrust in Reddit Discussions
Aria Pessianzadeh | Naima Sultana | Hildegarde Van den Bulck | David Gefen | Shahin Jabbari | Rezvaneh Rezapour
Transactions of the Association for Computational Linguistics, Volume 14
Aria Pessianzadeh | Naima Sultana | Hildegarde Van den Bulck | David Gefen | Shahin Jabbari | Rezvaneh Rezapour
Transactions of the Association for Computational Linguistics, Volume 14
The rise of generative AI (GenAI) has impacted many aspects of life. As these systems become embedded in everyday practices, understanding public trust in them also becomes essential for responsible adoption and governance. Prior work on trust in AI has largely drawn from psychology and human–computer interaction, but there is a lack of computational, large-scale, and longitudinal approaches to measuring trust and distrust in GenAI and large language models. We present the first computational study of Trust and Distrust in GenAI, using a multi-year Reddit dataset (2022–2025) spanning 39 subreddits and 230,576 posts. Crowd-sourced annotations of a representative sample were combined with classification models for scale analysis. Our results show that Trust and Distrust are nearly balanced over time, although Trust modestly outweighs Distrust. Technical performance and usability dominate as dimensions for both categories, while personal experience is the most frequent reason shaping attitudes. Distinct patterns also emerge across trustor groups: while industry professionals and tech leaders predominantly express Trust in GenAI, Distrust remains more prevalent among AI ethicists, journalists, and the general public. Our results provide a methodological framework for large-scale Trust analysis and insights into evolving public perceptions towards GenAI.
Beyond Binary Detection: A Multi-Dimensional Taxonomy of Cancer Misinformation on Reddit
Aria Pessianzadeh | Pooriya Jamie | Naima Sultana | Gracie Himmelstein | Yuliya Zektser | Patricia A. Ganz | Homa Hosseinmardi | Amir Ghasemian | Rezvaneh Rezapour
Findings of the Association for Computational Linguistics: EMNLP 2026
Aria Pessianzadeh | Pooriya Jamie | Naima Sultana | Gracie Himmelstein | Yuliya Zektser | Patricia A. Ganz | Homa Hosseinmardi | Amir Ghasemian | Rezvaneh Rezapour
Findings of the Association for Computational Linguistics: EMNLP 2026
Cancer-related discussions on social media provide important spaces for information exchange and peer support, but can also expose users to misinformation with implications for prevention, screening, and treatment decisions. Existing work often treats cancer misinformation as a binary phenomenon, providing limited insight into how misinformation is expressed, engaged with, and associated with potential harm. We introduce a multi-dimensional taxonomy for characterizing cancer misinformation in Reddit discussions of breast, lung, colon, and prostate cancer. Developed through expert annotation, the taxonomy captures seven dimensions spanning misinformation presence, cancer stage, information-seeking and sharing behavior, misinformation type, risk, stance, and topical focus. We evaluate 21 large language models (LLMs) across zero- and few-shot settings and develop a cross-model agreement strategy for scaling misinformation identification to over 133K posts. Our analysis shows that misinformation is heterogeneous in both form and function: unproven and alternative treatments emerge as a prominent topic, misinformation frequently occurs within exchanges that combine information seeking and sharing, and users engage with questionable claims through both endorsement and uncertainty. We further find that classification difficulty varies substantially across dimensions, with risk assessment posing particular challenges for both human annotators and LLMs. Our taxonomy and empirical findings move beyond binary detection toward a more nuanced characterization of how cancer misinformation is produced, discussed, and encountered in online health communities.