Talk Description

The goal to achieve novel AI systems has been ignited by an urgent commercial preoccupation with making emotionally engaged, empathetic AI assistants. The promise of empathy offers the alluring condition of being known by another, when someone simply “gets you.” Inventors work to embed the appearance of emotional signs in functional AI applications through meaning-making systems that mimic interpersonal communication. However, how do we come to terms with the ethical conundrum of artificial empathy? Is anthropomorphized AI leading to deceptive, destructive systems or the possibility of beneficial, creative, dialogic exchanges with artificial agents?

Speaker Bio

Dr. Isabel Pedersen is a Professor of Communication Studies at Ontario Tech University, specializing in the intersection of technological change and the resulting cultural, ethical, and political implications. Her research focuses on the lifecycle of technology—design, adoption, and adaptation—with a particular emphasis on future-proposed applications for Artificial Intelligence. Dr. Pedersen’s expertise has been recognized through influential roles, including serving on the IEEE Standards Association's Global XR Ethics Working Group (P7030), and as a Canada Research Chair (2012-2022). She is the founding Director of the Digital Life Institute, an international research network of multidisciplinary scholars. Her recent co-authored books include Augmentation Technologies and Artificial Intelligence in Technical and Professional Communication: Designing Ethical Futures (Routledge, 2023) and Writing Futures: Collaborative, Algorithmic, Autonomous (Springer, 2021). Her work has appeared in leading journals such as AI and Society, Journal of Information, Communication and Ethics in Society, and Communication Design Quarterly. Dr. Pedersen has given invited talks and keynotes, including for the Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy, Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences, Big Thinking on the Hill Lecture Series, and the World Science Festival in New York.

"I Get You": Empathy, Rhetoric, & the Design of AI Assistants