Eye Tracking in Recommender Systems

Eye Tracking in Recommender Systems

From Data Skeptic by Kyle Polich

December 18, 2025 · 52 min

About this episode

Santiago de Leon discusses eye tracking technology and its applications in recommender systems.

In this episode, Santiago de Leon takes us deep into the world of eye tracking and its revolutionary applications in recommender systems. As a researcher at the Kempelin Institute and Brno University, Santiago explains the mechanics of eye tracking technology—how it captures gaze data and processes it into fixations and saccades to reveal user browsing patterns. He introduces the groundbreaking RecGaze dataset, the first eye tracking dataset specifically designed for recommender systems research, which opens new possibilities for understanding how users interact with carousel interfaces like Netflix. Through collaboration between psychologists and AI researchers, Santiago's work demonstrates how eye tracking can uncover insights about positional bias and user engagement that traditional click data misses. Beyond the technical aspects, Santiago addresses the ethical considerations surrounding eye tracking data, particularly concerning pupil data and privacy. He emphasizes the importance of questioning assumptions in recommender systems and shares practical advice for improving recommendation algorithms by understanding actual user behavior rather than relying solely on click…

People in this episode

Host: Kyle Polich

Guest: Santiago de Leon

Topics covered

  • eye tracking
  • recommender systems
  • user behavior
  • data privacy
  • AI research

Keywords

  • eye tracking
  • recommender systems
  • RecGaze dataset
  • user engagement
  • positional bias

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Kempelin Institute, Brno University, Netflix

Products: RecGaze dataset

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