Dr. Pillai focuses on the adoption and implementation of artificial intelligence techniques, specifically natural language processing in the context of local/regional journalism. Her research interests are in analyzing text using natural language processing methods for a better understanding of behaviors and states of individuals and the society.

Previously, she was a Lecturer at the Informatics Institute, University of Amsterdam, assisting in the Master's program in Information Studies (Data Science track). She holds a PhD from the University of Wolverhampton for her thesis on the expressions of psychological stress in tweets.