Machine Ethics Podcast episodes 106. Companion AI with Giulia Trojano
Dec 3, 2025
In this engaging discussion, Giulia Trojano, a Senior associate at a competition firm and MA graduate in AI Ethics, explores the complexities of companion AI technology. She highlights concerns about digital de-skilling and the impact of chatbots on critical thinking, especially among youth. Giulia delves into the economic narratives shaped by big tech and the commercialization of emotional design in AI companions. She raises important questions about user agency, data ownership, and the societal implications of integrating chatbots into everyday life.
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AI As A Market Narrative
- AI is currently a crafted narrative shaped by big tech more than a grassroots cultural shift.
- Giulia Trojano argues generative AI's portrayal as inevitable drives adoption and policy complacency.
Deskilling Through Single-Answer Chatbots
- Generative chatbots can deskill users by replacing critical information-search behaviour with single-response reliance.
- Trojano worries this reduces resilience when systems fail or provide misleading answers.
Keep Offline Information Skills
- Build resilience by keeping alternative ways to find information like books and offline skills.
- Teach critical thinking so users can cross-check chatbot outputs against other sources.