The chapter delves into the speaker's experience with various robots in their home and a research project involving a unique artifact to understand how people bond with non-human-like objects. It discusses the significance of human psychology in technology development and the challenges engineers face in creating systems that consider human reactions. The conversation also touches on how the younger generation will grow up in a world where conversing with devices is the norm and raises concerns about societal impacts of interacting with AI companions.
For our first episode of Working Smarter we’re talking to Kate Darling, a research scientist at MIT’s Media Lab and author of The New Breed: What Our History with Animals Reveals about Our Future with Robots.
Darling has spent more than a decade studying human-robot interaction through a social, legal, and ethical lens. She’s interested in how people relate to robots and digital constructs, socially and emotionally—whether it’s an AI-powered chatbot or one of the many robotic dinosaurs that Kate has in her home.
Hear Darling talk about the bonds we’re already forming with our smart—and not-so-smart—devices at work and at home, and why our relationship with animals might be a better way to frame the interactions we’re having with increasingly intelligent machines.
Show notes:
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Working Smarter is a new podcast from Dropbox about how AI is changing the way we work and get stuff done.
You can listen to more episodes of Working Smarter on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube Music, Amazon Music, or wherever you get your podcasts. To read more stories and past interviews, visit workingsmarter.ai
This show would not be possible without the talented team at Cosmic Standard, namely: our producers Samiah Adams and Aja Simpson, technical director Jacob Winik, and executive producer Eliza Smith. Special thanks to Benjy Baptiste for production assistance, our marketing and PR consultant Meggan Ellingboe, and our illustrators, Fanny Luor and Justin Tran. Our theme song was created by Doug Stuart. Working Smarter is hosted by Matthew Braga.
Thanks for listening!