Hi, I'm Nathan Cheng 程一

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§ 01

Currently

In Berkeley, California. Exploring AI products, and researching neural-network-based parameter estimation in Anne Collins' lab.

Nathan Cheng
Hong Kong · 2025
§ 02

Selected AI product work

Live product · Public view
PivotBridge AI career agent interface
Selected 02Berkeley SkyDeck · 2026

PivotBridge.AI

Evaluated a live AI career agent across onboarding, interview, resume and decision workflows — turning trust gaps and UX friction into implementation-ready product recommendations.

Product evaluationAI output qualityShipped improvements
Visit product
24-hour build
VStandby livestream companion interface
Selected 03BETA AI · 2026

VStandby Studio

A real-time AI companion that detects livestream highlights, follows caption context and reacts through a selectable persona.

Real-time pipelineLLM + vision
Open demo

Welldify · Supported LLM monitoring across 66,000 labeled sentences and built a semi-automated workflow that shipped 30+ psychoeducation carousel sets.

View work ↗
§ 03

Research experience

'26UC Berkeley
w/ A. Collins
CCN Lab

Artificial neural networks for parameter estimation and model identification in computational cognitive models — asking when ML systems can replace expensive Bayesian inference, and where they shouldn't.

neural-netsbayesiancognitive-models
'25HKU
w/ F. Cao
NeuroLeaD Lab

Atypical Functional Network Trajectories in Autism Spectrum Disorderinvited revision at PNAS, 2026. Deployed neuroimaging pipelines on HKU's HPC (a first for the lab), processed ABIDE-I/II and ADHD-200 datasets, and found that ASD subjects show elevated similarity to normative atlases in later life.

neuroimagingfmrihpcpnas-2026
§ 04

Thinking about

01Idea

Maslow had it backwards (sometimes).

The pyramid says you need food, shelter, money, love before you can do spiritual work. But a lot of the best art came from people whose base needs were not met — and arguably because they weren't.

02Idea

Why can't I search new places mid-route?

The real user task is "I'm going to X, but I also want to check out Y" — a near-universal trip pattern that today's maps still don't make easy.

03Idea

An AI-native instrument for music

Hardware: a foldable, Switch-sized core — a 12-key octave plus collapsible drum pads. Software: an AI music agent — hum a melody or describe what you want, and it arranges and lays it onto your tracks.

§ 05

Elsewhere

§ 06

Listening to

罗永浩的十字路口 For knowing interesting souls
Lenny's Podcast For how current products should work
§ 07

Say hi