Julie Carpenter, Ph.D.

My research explores how identities are shaped, negotiated, and expressed through our interactions with technology—and how these interactions redefine what it means to be human, influencing the designs of the tools we use.

Current projects

After years of passion, research, and writing, my latest book has made its way into the world. The Naked Android: Synthetic Socialness and the Human Gaze, is now available on Routledge, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and many other booksellers.

I'm quoted in the recent New York Times article "She Is in Love With ChatGPT" by Kashmir Hill. The article explores how artificial intelligence reshapes the boundaries between technology and human companionship, raising critical questions about intimacy, connection, and the ethical design of AI systems.

• At what point does simulated affection become emotional manipulation?
• Can AI companionship distract people from nurturing authentic human relationships?
• What data is collected when AI engages in emotionally intimate interactions, and how is it used?

These are some of the urgent questions driving my own work, and I’m excited to contribute to this important conversation about the future of human-AI relationships.

Someone on Bluesky had the very good idea that researchers and science communicators should make a Spotify list of some of our interviews in case anyone wants to dive deeper into our work, so here's a link to a new list of my own.

I was interviewed for The Bunker (UK) podcast ep, Will Musk's robot fantasy be a dream or a Terminator nightmare? We delved into the promise of convenience Optimus proposes vs the surveillance and data collection it would require to succeed. How much personal information do you want your robot to know? I believe the brand of the robot will play a crucial role for consumers.

I was delighted to be interviewed by Drs. Zena Assaad and Elizabeth Williams for the Algorithmic Futures podcast, SE2E01: Artificial intelligence and the human gaze, with Julie Carpenter. We had a wide-ranging conversation spanning AI, love, intimacy, and the human existential need to be recognized by others, or an Other.

Rachel Metz spoke with me about the big ethical claims of a new chatbot-on-the-block for her Bloomberg article New ChatGPT Challenger Emerges With Claude.

I was recently on the Tomorrow, Today podcast and the conversation flowed with interviewer and host Nash Flynn in the episode "Artificial intelligence, robots, love, and humanity with Dr. Julie Carpenter". Nash asked about my observations of user adoption and trust issues during the Y2k era, and I connect that to the immediate push afterwards to repair user trust to prepare people for the normalization of accepting the web for retail, online commerce, and e-mail for everyday communication. We also talked about the potential benefits and challenges behind using AI today in therapy (e.g., robots and chatbots), the data and privacy issues we all negotiate with smart technologies and the social networks that we have come to depend upon, the socioeconomics of tech accessiblity, how capitalism and emerging tech is sold to people, ethics, death, uploading consciousness, consent, gender, and ablesim.

 

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