Divy Thakkar

Staff Program Manager + Researcher at Google DeepMind. Currently building the next interaction and collaboration paradigm for advanced AI systems. Based in Mountain View, California.

About

• Focused on strategic research engagements for Gemini and making it the best collaborative platform for users.
• Previously: Foundational Science Research Investments for Gemini (primarily focussed on foundation models, including evals, systems, AI for Math), Founding Member, Google DeepMind India.
• Research recognized through awards at CHI and CSCW
• Education: Ph.D in Computer Science at City St. Georges, University of London (advised by Alex Taylor (now at University of Edinburgh) and Anoop Sinha (Google)), MBA from Indian Institute of Foreign Trade, Delhi, Bachelors in Computer Science from Dhirubhai Ambani University

Research

My research is with the primary goal to advance human-centered LLMs. I am currently focussed on thinking about the post-training paradigm that can natively enable Human-AI collaboration. My research sits across AI and HCI. Past research explored Human-AI collaboration in resource-constrained environments such as public health and education.

Service

COLM '25, UIST '25, DIS '25 (AC), CHI ('19-'26), CSCW ('19-'24), CHIWORK (PC), NeurIPS (2021)

Publications

*indicates equal contribution | Google Scholar

• Prototyping with Prompts: Emerging Approaches and Challenges in Generative AI Design for Collaborative Software Teams (Best Paper Award)
  Hari Subramonyam*, Divy Thakkar*, Andrew Ku, Jürgen Dieber, Anoop Sinha
  CHI 2025
• Public Health Calls for/with AI: An Ethnographic Perspective (Honorable Mention)
  Azra Ismail*, Divy Thakkar*, Neha Madhiwalla, Neha Kumar
  CSCW 2023
• Increasing Impact of Mobile Health Programs: SAHELI for Maternal and Child Care (Best Innovative Application Award)
  Shresth Verma, Gargi Singh, Aditya Mate, Paritosh verma, Sruti Gorantala, Neha Madhiwala, Aparna hegde, Divy Thakkar, Manish Jain, Milind Tambe, Aparna Taneja
  IAAI 2023
• When is ML Data Good? Datafication in Public Health in India
  Divy Thakkar*, Azra Ismail*, Alex Hanna, Pratyush Kumar, Nithya Sambasivan, Neha Kumar
  CHI 2022
• Facilitating human-wildlife cohabitation through conflict prediction
  Susobhan Ghosh, Pradeep Varakantham, Aniket Bhatkhande, Tamanna Ahmad, Anish Andheria, Wenjun, Aparna Taneja, Divy Thakkar, Milind Tambe
  IAAI 2021
• Measuring Data Collection Quality for Community Healthcare
  Ramesha Karunasena, Mohammad Sarparajul Ambiya, Arunesh Sinha, Ruchit Nagar, Saachi Dalal, Divy Thakkar, Milind Tambe
  EAAMO 2021
• Beyond the portal: reimagining the post-pandemic future of work
  Divy Thakkar, Neha Kumar, Nithya Sambasivan
  ACM interactions 27(6), November 2020
• Missed calls, Automated Calls and Health Support: Using AI to improve maternal health outcomes by increasing program engagement
  Siddharth Nishtala, Harshavardhan Kamarthi, Divy Thakkar, Dhyanesh Narayanan, Anirudh Grama, Ramesh Padmanabhan, Neha Madhiwalla, Suresh Chaudhary, Balaraman Ravindra, Milind Tambe
  AI for Social Good Workshop 2020, Harvard University
• Towards an AI-powered Future that Works for Vocational Workers
  Divy Thakkar, Neha Kumar, Nithya Sambasivan
  CHI 2020
• The Unexpected Entry and Exodus of Indian Women in CS and HCI
  Thakkar, D.*, Sambasivan, N.*, Yardi, P., Sudarshan, P., Toyama, K.
  CHI 2018

Contact

I enjoy talking to researchers and builders interested in advancing human-centered LLMs. I angel invest and advise AI startups.

• Email: divy_d17@iift.edu
• Twitter: @divy93t
• LinkedIn: divythakkar