Background

As a Ph.D. Candidate in Comparative Literature at the University of Western Ontario, I operate as a high-fidelity data engine bridging extreme literary precision with AI engineering and media production. Fluent in English, Mandarin, French, and Italian, I specialize in semantic evaluation, cross-cultural alignment, and end-to-end content strategy.

Technical & Creative Workflows

AI Evaluation & Alignment: Implementing LLM Benchmarking, Hallucination Mitigation, Creative Prose Evaluation, and RLHF protocols. I codify subjective aesthetic values—style, tone, and voice—into actionable, machine-readable rubrics.

Multimodal Pipelines: Executing generative AI workflows (Midjourney), advanced speech synthesis (ElevenLabs, Whisper ASR), and workflow automation via Python scripting to push the boundaries of machine-generated content.

Content Strategy: Directing end-to-end production for digital platforms. I manage algorithm optimization, creator relations, and full-stack media generation, leveraging tools such as Descript and Riverside.fm.

Publications & Media

• Yu, Lei. How AI Turned Description into an Everyday Skill. The Conversation (Under Review).
• Yu, Lei. Good Vibes Only? The Shared Emotions We Don't Quite Name. The Conversation, 2025.
• 值得表扬 (Café au Lei) — Independent Podcast Host & Producer. A Mandarin-language podcast translating specialized literary and technological topics into accessible, high-retention discussions for broad audiences.