{"id":"https://openalex.org/W7152396490","doi":"https://doi.org/10.1145/3774904.3792508","title":"Digital Skin, Digital Bias: Uncovering Tone-Based Biases in LLMs and Emoji Embeddings","display_name":"Digital Skin, Digital Bias: Uncovering Tone-Based Biases in LLMs and Emoji Embeddings","publication_year":2026,"publication_date":"2026-04-09","ids":{"openalex":"https://openalex.org/W7152396490","doi":"https://doi.org/10.1145/3774904.3792508"},"language":null,"primary_location":{"id":"doi:10.1145/3774904.3792508","is_oa":true,"landing_page_url":"https://doi.org/10.1145/3774904.3792508","pdf_url":null,"source":null,"license":"cc-by","license_id":"https://openalex.org/licenses/cc-by","version":"publishedVersion","is_accepted":true,"is_published":true,"raw_source_name":"Proceedings of the ACM Web Conference 2026","raw_type":"proceedings-article"},"type":"article","indexed_in":["arxiv","crossref"],"open_access":{"is_oa":true,"oa_status":"gold","oa_url":"https://doi.org/10.1145/3774904.3792508","any_repository_has_fulltext":true},"authorships":[{"author_position":"first","author":{"id":null,"display_name":"Mingchen Li","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0009-0003-0704-5906"},"institutions":[{"id":"https://openalex.org/I123534392","display_name":"University of North Texas","ror":"https://ror.org/00v97ad02","country_code":"US","type":"education","lineage":["https://openalex.org/I123534392"]}],"countries":["US"],"is_corresponding":false,"raw_author_name":"Mingchen Li","raw_affiliation_strings":["University of North Texas, Denton, TX, USA"],"raw_orcid":"https://orcid.org/0009-0003-0704-5906","affiliations":[{"raw_affiliation_string":"University of North Texas, Denton, TX, USA","institution_ids":["https://openalex.org/I123534392"]}]},{"author_position":"middle","author":{"id":"https://openalex.org/A5057627035","display_name":"Wajdi Aljedaani","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6700-719X"},"institutions":[{"id":"https://openalex.org/I4210164862","display_name":"Artificial Intelligence in Medicine (Canada)","ror":"https://ror.org/05p590m36","country_code":"CA","type":"company","lineage":["https://openalex.org/I4210164862"]}],"countries":["CA"],"is_corresponding":false,"raw_author_name":"Wajdi Aljedaani","raw_affiliation_strings":["International Center for Artificial Intelligence Research and Ethics, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia"],"raw_orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6700-719X","affiliations":[{"raw_affiliation_string":"International Center for Artificial Intelligence Research and Ethics, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia","institution_ids":["https://openalex.org/I4210164862"]}]},{"author_position":"middle","author":{"id":"https://openalex.org/A5133310938","display_name":"Yingjie Liu","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0009-0007-9711-8185"},"institutions":[{"id":"https://openalex.org/I178169726","display_name":"Southern Methodist University","ror":"https://ror.org/042tdr378","country_code":"US","type":"education","lineage":["https://openalex.org/I178169726"]}],"countries":["US"],"is_corresponding":false,"raw_author_name":"Yingjie Liu","raw_affiliation_strings":["Southern Methodist University, Dallas, TX, USA"],"raw_orcid":"https://orcid.org/0009-0007-9711-8185","affiliations":[{"raw_affiliation_string":"Southern Methodist University, Dallas, TX, USA","institution_ids":["https://openalex.org/I178169726"]}]},{"author_position":"middle","author":{"id":"https://openalex.org/A5133241532","display_name":"Navyasri Meka","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0009-0009-5073-4014"},"institutions":[{"id":"https://openalex.org/I123534392","display_name":"University of North Texas","ror":"https://ror.org/00v97ad02","country_code":"US","type":"education","lineage":["https://openalex.org/I123534392"]}],"countries":["US"],"is_corresponding":false,"raw_author_name":"Navyasri Meka","raw_affiliation_strings":["University of North Texas, Denton, TX, USA"],"raw_orcid":"https://orcid.org/0009-0009-5073-4014","affiliations":[{"raw_affiliation_string":"University of North Texas, Denton, TX, USA","institution_ids":["https://openalex.org/I123534392"]}]},{"author_position":"middle","author":{"id":"https://openalex.org/A5052404451","display_name":"Xuan L\u00fc","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4886-0918"},"institutions":[{"id":"https://openalex.org/I138006243","display_name":"University of Arizona","ror":"https://ror.org/03m2x1q45","country_code":"US","type":"education","lineage":["https://openalex.org/I138006243"]}],"countries":["US"],"is_corresponding":false,"raw_author_name":"Xuan Lu","raw_affiliation_strings":["The University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA"],"raw_orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4886-0918","affiliations":[{"raw_affiliation_string":"The University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA","institution_ids":["https://openalex.org/I138006243"]}]},{"author_position":"middle","author":{"id":"https://openalex.org/A5133239023","display_name":"Xinyue Ye","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8838-9476"},"institutions":[{"id":"https://openalex.org/I17301866","display_name":"University of Alabama","ror":"https://ror.org/03xrrjk67","country_code":"US","type":"education","lineage":["https://openalex.org/I17301866"]}],"countries":["US"],"is_corresponding":false,"raw_author_name":"Xinyue Ye","raw_affiliation_strings":["The University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL, USA"],"raw_orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8838-9476","affiliations":[{"raw_affiliation_string":"The University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL, USA","institution_ids":["https://openalex.org/I17301866"]}]},{"author_position":"middle","author":{"id":null,"display_name":"Junhua Ding","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2129-1586"},"institutions":[{"id":"https://openalex.org/I123534392","display_name":"University of North Texas","ror":"https://ror.org/00v97ad02","country_code":"US","type":"education","lineage":["https://openalex.org/I123534392"]}],"countries":["US"],"is_corresponding":false,"raw_author_name":"Junhua Ding","raw_affiliation_strings":["University of North Texas, Denton, TX, USA"],"raw_orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2129-1586","affiliations":[{"raw_affiliation_string":"University of North Texas, Denton, TX, USA","institution_ids":["https://openalex.org/I123534392"]}]},{"author_position":"last","author":{"id":"https://openalex.org/A5073748933","display_name":"Yunhe Feng","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6577-227X"},"institutions":[{"id":"https://openalex.org/I123534392","display_name":"University of North Texas","ror":"https://ror.org/00v97ad02","country_code":"US","type":"education","lineage":["https://openalex.org/I123534392"]}],"countries":["US"],"is_corresponding":false,"raw_author_name":"Yunhe Feng","raw_affiliation_strings":["University of North Texas, Denton, TX, USA"],"raw_orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6577-227X","affiliations":[{"raw_affiliation_string":"University of North Texas, Denton, TX, USA","institution_ids":["https://openalex.org/I123534392"]}]}],"institutions":[],"countries_distinct_count":2,"institutions_distinct_count":8,"corresponding_author_ids":[],"corresponding_institution_ids":[],"apc_list":null,"apc_paid":null,"fwci":0.0,"has_fulltext":true,"cited_by_count":0,"citation_normalized_percentile":{"value":0.47463983,"is_in_top_1_percent":false,"is_in_top_10_percent":false},"cited_by_percentile_year":null,"biblio":{"volume":null,"issue":null,"first_page":"1662","last_page":"1671"},"is_retracted":false,"is_paratext":false,"is_xpac":false,"primary_topic":{"id":"https://openalex.org/T13155","display_name":"Digital Communication and Language","score":0.8702999949455261,"subfield":{"id":"https://openalex.org/subfields/1709","display_name":"Human-Computer Interaction"},"field":{"id":"https://openalex.org/fields/17","display_name":"Computer Science"},"domain":{"id":"https://openalex.org/domains/3","display_name":"Physical Sciences"}},"topics":[{"id":"https://openalex.org/T13155","display_name":"Digital Communication and Language","score":0.8702999949455261,"subfield":{"id":"https://openalex.org/subfields/1709","display_name":"Human-Computer Interaction"},"field":{"id":"https://openalex.org/fields/17","display_name":"Computer Science"},"domain":{"id":"https://openalex.org/domains/3","display_name":"Physical Sciences"}},{"id":"https://openalex.org/T10667","display_name":"Emotion and Mood Recognition","score":0.0210999995470047,"subfield":{"id":"https://openalex.org/subfields/3205","display_name":"Experimental and Cognitive Psychology"},"field":{"id":"https://openalex.org/fields/32","display_name":"Psychology"},"domain":{"id":"https://openalex.org/domains/2","display_name":"Social Sciences"}},{"id":"https://openalex.org/T10664","display_name":"Sentiment Analysis and Opinion Mining","score":0.011500000022351742,"subfield":{"id":"https://openalex.org/subfields/1702","display_name":"Artificial Intelligence"},"field":{"id":"https://openalex.org/fields/17","display_name":"Computer Science"},"domain":{"id":"https://openalex.org/domains/3","display_name":"Physical Sciences"}}],"keywords":[{"id":"https://openalex.org/keywords/emoji","display_name":"Emoji","score":0.6682999730110168},{"id":"https://openalex.org/keywords/key","display_name":"Key (lock)","score":0.2757999897003174}],"concepts":[{"id":"https://openalex.org/C2779247141","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1049294","display_name":"Emoji","level":3,"score":0.6682999730110168},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C41008148","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q21198","display_name":"Computer science","level":0,"score":0.564300000667572},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C154945302","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q11660","display_name":"Artificial intelligence","level":1,"score":0.4738999903202057},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C204321447","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q30642","display_name":"Natural language processing","level":1,"score":0.42590001225471497},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C41895202","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q8162","display_name":"Linguistics","level":1,"score":0.34459999203681946},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C46312422","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q11024","display_name":"Communication","level":1,"score":0.28290000557899475},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C26517878","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q228039","display_name":"Key (lock)","level":2,"score":0.2757999897003174},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C38652104","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q3510521","display_name":"Computer security","level":1,"score":0.2395000010728836},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C15744967","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q9418","display_name":"Psychology","level":0,"score":0.23749999701976776},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C108827166","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q175975","display_name":"Internet privacy","level":1,"score":0.23180000483989716}],"mesh":[],"locations_count":2,"locations":[{"id":"doi:10.1145/3774904.3792508","is_oa":true,"landing_page_url":"https://doi.org/10.1145/3774904.3792508","pdf_url":null,"source":null,"license":"cc-by","license_id":"https://openalex.org/licenses/cc-by","version":"publishedVersion","is_accepted":true,"is_published":true,"raw_source_name":"Proceedings of the ACM Web Conference 2026","raw_type":"proceedings-article"},{"id":"pmh:oai:arXiv.org:2604.06863","is_oa":true,"landing_page_url":"http://arxiv.org/abs/2604.06863","pdf_url":"https://arxiv.org/pdf/2604.06863","source":{"id":"https://openalex.org/S4306400194","display_name":"arXiv (Cornell University)","issn_l":null,"issn":null,"is_oa":true,"is_in_doaj":false,"is_core":false,"host_organization":"https://openalex.org/I205783295","host_organization_name":"Cornell University","host_organization_lineage":["https://openalex.org/I205783295"],"host_organization_lineage_names":[],"type":"repository"},"license":"cc-by","license_id":"https://openalex.org/licenses/cc-by","version":"submittedVersion","is_accepted":false,"is_published":false,"raw_source_name":null,"raw_type":"text"}],"best_oa_location":{"id":"doi:10.1145/3774904.3792508","is_oa":true,"landing_page_url":"https://doi.org/10.1145/3774904.3792508","pdf_url":null,"source":null,"license":"cc-by","license_id":"https://openalex.org/licenses/cc-by","version":"publishedVersion","is_accepted":true,"is_published":true,"raw_source_name":"Proceedings of the ACM Web Conference 2026","raw_type":"proceedings-article"},"sustainable_development_goals":[],"awards":[],"funders":[],"has_content":{"pdf":false,"grobid_xml":false},"content_urls":null,"referenced_works_count":19,"referenced_works":["https://openalex.org/W2122522916","https://openalex.org/W2132159897","https://openalex.org/W2250539671","https://openalex.org/W2512973410","https://openalex.org/W2621037547","https://openalex.org/W2769358515","https://openalex.org/W2795369302","https://openalex.org/W2798357113","https://openalex.org/W2806838925","https://openalex.org/W2941985495","https://openalex.org/W2952929029","https://openalex.org/W2962059918","https://openalex.org/W2966398511","https://openalex.org/W3004272833","https://openalex.org/W3021819673","https://openalex.org/W3047117292","https://openalex.org/W3196248941","https://openalex.org/W4365388135","https://openalex.org/W6890025973"],"related_works":[],"abstract_inverted_index":{"Skin-toned":[0],"emojis":[1,136],"are":[2],"crucial":[3],"for":[4,96,154],"fostering":[5],"personal":[6],"identity":[7],"and":[8,81,119,131,156,160],"social":[9],"inclusion":[10],"in":[11,56],"online":[12],"communication.":[13],"As":[14],"AI":[15],"models,":[16],"particularly":[17],"Large":[18],"Language":[19],"Models":[20],"(LLMs),":[21],"increasingly":[22],"mediate":[23],"interactions":[24],"on":[25,169],"web":[26,171],"platforms,":[27],"the":[28,49,151,170],"risk":[29],"that":[30,166],"these":[31,145,162],"systems":[32],"perpetuate":[33],"societal":[34,178],"biases":[35,121,143],"through":[36],"their":[37],"representation":[38],"of":[39,54,128],"such":[40],"symbols":[41],"is":[42],"a":[43,87,109],"significant":[44],"concern.":[45],"This":[46],"paper":[47],"presents":[48],"first":[50,85],"large-scale":[51],"comparative":[52],"study":[53],"bias":[55],"skin-toned":[57],"emoji":[58,69,102],"representations":[59],"across":[60,137],"two":[61],"distinct":[62],"model":[63],"classes.":[64],"We":[65,125],"systematically":[66],"evaluate":[67],"dedicated":[68],"embedding":[70],"models":[71,103],"(emoji2vec,":[72],"emoji-sw2v)":[73],"against":[74],"four":[75],"modern":[76],"LLMs":[77,92],"(Llama,":[78],"Gemma,":[79],"Qwen,":[80],"Mistral).":[82],"Our":[83,148],"analysis":[84],"reveals":[86],"critical":[88],"performance":[89],"gap:":[90],"while":[91],"demonstrate":[93],"robust":[94],"support":[95],"skin":[97,139],"tone":[98],"modifiers,":[99],"widely-used":[100],"specialized":[101],"exhibit":[104],"severe":[105],"deficiencies.":[106],"More":[107],"importantly,":[108],"multi-faceted":[110],"investigation":[111],"into":[112],"semantic":[113],"consistency,":[114],"representational":[115,163],"similarity,":[116],"sentiment":[117,130],"polarity,":[118],"core":[120],"uncovers":[122],"systemic":[123],"disparities.":[124],"find":[126],"evidence":[127],"skewed":[129],"inconsistent":[132],"meanings":[133],"associated":[134],"with":[135],"different":[138],"tones,":[140],"highlighting":[141],"latent":[142],"within":[144],"foundational":[146],"models.":[147],"findings":[149],"underscore":[150],"urgent":[152],"need":[153],"developers":[155],"platforms":[157],"to":[158],"audit":[159],"mitigate":[161],"harms,":[164],"ensuring":[165],"AI's":[167],"role":[168],"promotes":[172],"genuine":[173],"equity":[174],"rather":[175],"than":[176],"reinforcing":[177],"biases.":[179]},"counts_by_year":[],"updated_date":"2026-06-11T09:08:48.828518","created_date":"2026-04-10T00:00:00"}
