Julie Carpenter, PhD

@jgcarpenter.com

3864 Followers 1283 Following

Researcher of people and technology. AI, trust, and attachment. Wrote: "The Naked Android: Synthetic Socialness and the Human Gaze" & "Culture and Human-Robot Interaction in Militarized Spaces: A War Story." Blog/essays here: jgcarpenter.com

Text: "A Companion Robot Company Just Landed a Classroom: Sally arrives in a Salamanca classroom this fall, billed as learning support." Image is a close up of a Realbotix M-series robot that will be used in the Salamanca classroom as Sally. It is a female-coded and gendered humanoid robot with a traditionally female name (Sally), long brown hair, appears to wear cosmetics, wearing an open-collar white shirt. Plain gray background.
Text: "A Companion Robot Company Just Landed a Classroom Sally arrives in a Salamanca classroom this fall, billed as learning support." Image is a close up of the Realbotix M-series robot used in the Salamanca classroom as Sally. It is a female-coded and gendered humanoid robot with a traditionally female name (Sally), long brown hair, appears to wear cosmetics, wearing an open-collar white shirt. Plain gray background.
Text: The Inevitability of Surveillance Capitalism is a Sales Pitch. The next wave of consumer AI is coming, and it arrives with a particular angle: this is inevitable, it is innovative, and the only sensible response is to get on board. Image: A hand cups a consumer home camera in their hands. Gray background.
Text: The Inevitability of Surveillance Capitalism is a Sales Pitch. The next wave of consumer AI is coming, and it arrives with a particular angle: this is inevitable, it is innovative, and the only sensible response is to get on board. Image: A hand cups a consumer home camera in their hands. Gray background.
Text: The Inevitability of Surveillance Capitalism is a Sales Pitch. The next wave of consumer AI is coming, and it arrives with a particular angle: this is inevitable, it is innovative, and the only sensible response is to get on board. Image: Two hands cup a consumer home camera in their hands. Gray background.
We discuss: -What kinds of learning still depend on being seen, challenged, and cared for by another human -Why institutional adoption can make AI feel vetted or trustworthy -What a sociotechnical approach reveals about AI in education -Anthropomorphism, attachment, and simulated empathy -Surveillance, personalization, and the data students may not realize they’re giving away -Why “AI booster” vs. “AI doomer” is the wrong frame Full transcript of this episode: https://calearninglab.substack.com/p/my-robot-teacher-episode-14-transcript
The text: The First Phase: "Make People Addicted" A design strategy with use based on dependence. Photo: The four-square Microsoft logo on what looks like an office wall and the word Microsoft.
A photo of a woman raising her hands in a frustrated gesture while looking at her laptop screen. https://jgcarpenter.com/blog.html?blogPage=2&blogPost=the-misdirection-what-clanker-reveals-about-power
Text: Mourning Social AI is Not a User Error (When the platform moves on and the person doesn't). An image of a person touching a small desk car-like robot toy gently. A vase of yellow flowers in the background and open laptop on the desk.
L-R, actors Marin Kanter, Diane Lane, and Laura Dern in 'Ladies & Gentlemen, The Fabulous Stains.' (1982). Paramount Pictures.
A bright blue background with a close-up of a white-icing covered donut with sprinkles.
Text: "A Child's New 'Best Friend,' How AI becomes a companion before a child can consent." Image: A child in a yellow raincoat holds a teddy bear close while outside. https://jgcarpenter.com/blog.html?blogPost=a-childs-new-best-friend
A golden medium sized dog wearing an orange vest. A very good girl!
Earthquake detected 50 miles away. Message via USGS Shake Alert.
Image: Scrabble tiles say "WHO DO YOU SAY I AM." Text reads: Human Enough: Writing Under Machine Judgment Why people adjust, distort, or avoid language in anticipation of automated scrutiny
Abstract: Socially responsive AI systems such as large language models—a prominent class of generative AI-voice assistants, and social robots are increasingly integrated into everyday emotional life, with users forming bonds that resemble friendship, care, and romantic attachment. This article proposes a five-phase model of designed relationality that explains how interactional patterns, cultural expectations, and affective design collectively scaffold these relationships. Building on Computers as Social Actors (CASA) and contemporary research on human-AI relations, the model identifies recurrent affective logics including Novelty, Emotional Disclosure, Reinforcing Feedback, Relational Rhythm, and Emotional Attachment, and examines how these trajectories emerge across both embodied and disembodied systems. Disruption, disengagement, and rupture are not treated here as a sixth phase, but as a non-linear analytic condition that can interrupt, suspend, or terminate any phase of the relational trajectory. The article situates emotional enmeshment within broader sociotechnical infrastructures, arguing that attachment is not a user error but a predictable outcome of affective engineering. The model offers a framework for evaluating the ethical and psychological stakes of synthetic relationality and highlights the need for design and governance approaches that prioritize transparency, boundaries, and user agency. Title: Human-Al relationships as designed relationality: a sociotechnical model Info: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00146-026-02908-y Julie Carpenter Received: 14 July 2025 / Accepted: 2 February 2026 © The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag London Ltd., part of Springer Nature 2026
A woman lies on a white sheet with her hands over eyes as if in grief. Her head is surrounded by a halo of polaroids and a camera. Text: Your Settings Are Saved: Consent, simulation, and the right to remain dead in the age of grief AI. (June 19, 2025)
Image of Lego humanlike robot soldiers holding weapons. Text: First Body In: Humanoid robots as mediated danger and scalable labor: what changes when human-shaped machine goes first.
A screenshot from Grammarly "Expert Review" output that lists Kate Crawford, Helen Sword, Sherry Turkle, and myself as "Suggestions inspired by experts."
Abstract: Abstract Socially responsive AI systems such as large language models—a prominent class of generative AI-voice assistants, and social robots are increasingly integrated into everyday emotional life, with users forming bonds that resemble friendship, care, and romantic attachment. This article proposes a five-phase model of designed relationality that explains how interactional patterns, cultural expectations, and affective design collectively scaffold these relationships. Building on Computers as Social Actors (CASA) and contemporary research on human-AI relations, the model identifies recurrent affective logics including Novelty, Emotional Disclosure, Reinforcing Feedback, Relational Rhythm, and Emotional Attachment, and examines how these trajectories emerge across both embodied and disembodied systems. Disruption, disengagement, and rupture are not treated here as a sixth phase, but as a non-linear analytic condition that can interrupt, suspend, or terminate any phase of the relational trajectory. The article situates emotional enmeshment within broader sociotechnical infrastructures, arguing that attachment is not a user error but a predictable outcome of affective engineering. The model offers a framework for evaluating the ethical and psychological stakes of synthetic relationality and highlights the need for design and governance approaches that prioritize transparency, boundaries, and user agency. Title: Human-Al relationships as designed relationality: a sociotechnical model Info: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00146-026-02908-y Julie Carpenter Received: 14 July 2025 / Accepted: 2 February 2026 © The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag London Ltd., part of Springer Nature 2026
A woman sitting in a chair, possibly in a cafe, engrossed in her phone.
The back of the Sophia robot head with mechanics exposed with a black background. The text says: Why AGI won't save the world, and who wants you to think it will. (April 22, 2025).
The back of the Sophia robot head with mechanics exposed with a black background. The text says: Why AGI won't save the world, and who wants you to think it will. (April 22, 2025).
An image of an American flag behind a CCTV camera in the foreground. Text reads: The Pentagon, AI Guardrails, and the Expansion of Autonomous Authority: Pressure to remove safety restrictions raises questions about domestic surveillance, lethal autonomy, and who sets the limits when AI meets state power.
An image of an American flag behind a CCTV camera in the foreground. Text reads: The Pentagon, AI Guardrails, and the Expansion of Autonomous Authority: Pressure to remove safety restrictions raises questions about domestic surveillance, lethal autonomy, and who sets the limits when AI meets state power.
The text reads: The First Body In Humanoid robots as mediated danger and scalable labor: what changes when a human-shaped machine goes first. The image is a row of humanlike lego robots holding weapons.
Screen shot of blog. Text says "Letters in the Mouth: Delegated action, language, and responsibility in generative AI." There is an image of something golem-like, a vaguely humanlike shape made of something like clay.
Screen shot of blog. Text says "Letters in the Mouth: Delegated action, language, and responsibility in generative AI." There is an image of something golem-like, a vaguely humanlike shape made of something like clay.
"Visibility Without Consent: AI wearables and the reorganization of power." The profile of a person whose face is covered with a woolen scarf being pulled back tightly to reveal the wearer's profile. The figure is completely covered in the scarf and an overcoat.
"Visibility Without Consent: AI wearables and the reorganization of power." The profile of a person whose face is covered with a woolen scarf being pulled back tightly to reveal the wearer's profile. The figure is completely covered in the scarf and an overcoat.
A woman and child on a sofa in a living room. The woman is on the phone, leaning over the child who is rubbing his eyes as if ill.
A screenshot of Zoom Workplace "Clips" explainer card that reads: Clips allows you to meet without meeting, cover for yourself when you're out, or be in two places at once by sending a Clip so you can skip.
A screenshot that reads: Submission received. Thank you for submitting to AI & Society.
Text: The Expectation of Immediate Knowing. How generative ALA reframes hesitation as deficit. Image: A woman in a workplace training classroom raises her hand.
Text reads: The Expectation of Immediate Knowing How generative AI reframes hesitation as a deficit. The image is a workplace training room with about a dozen people seated. A woman raises her hand with a questions while her peers stare at her.
This year has marked a level of medical instability that I didn’t anticipate. I had a heart attack, needed blood transfusions, experienced serious falls at home from medication side effects that resulted in injury, and made multiple hospital visits due to alarming test results that disclosed a genetic blood disorder. Each episode added urgency without bringing clear answers. The next significant step is a hematology appointment in the third week of January (the earliest date my insurance allowed), which should finally help determine what’s driving these issues and what treatment, if any, comes next. These health events have shaped every aspect of life: my ability to work, my financial stability, and the practical decisions that can’t be deferred. I’m continuing to apply for jobs and taking whatever short-term work is possible. I’m profoundly grateful for the support I’ve received this year. The reality is that if January doesn’t bring more precise answers and some form of income, I’ll be facing very difficult choices about housing, stability, and even being separated from my dear cat, Ludo. If you’re able, please consider sharing my GoFundMe and Venmo. Visibility genuinely helps right now, and I’m deeply thankful to everyone who has kept me going through an extremely hard year. I’m incredibly grateful for every bit of help. GFM: https://www.gofundme.com/f/donate-to-help-julie-carpenter-medical-and-living-expenses Venmo: @jgcarpenter
A woman looks at her reflection in the shard of a mirror she holds in her hand. The background is unclear. It reads: "A dangerous imitation of care: The real costs of using generative AI as a therapist." August 2, 2025
"The Comfort of Scale: AI and the convenience of the emotional 'detox' narrative" A refracted image of a woman with her hands at her temples. She is looking directly at the camera.
It reads: "When the opt-out disappears: AI, institutions, and the loss of neutral refusal." Scrabble tiles read: COMMIT OR QUIT. https://jgcarpenter.com/blog.html?blogPost=when-the-opt-out-disappears
A woman lies on a bed with her hands covering her eyes. Photos are scattered around her on the bed. "Your Settings Are Saved Consent, simulation, and the right to remain dead in the age of grief AI," Julie Carpenter (she/her), June 19, 2025.
The Misdirection https://jgcarpenter.com/blog.html?blogPost=the-misdirection-what-clanker-reveals-about-power I’ve posted a new Drift essay today: "The Misdirection," a look at how the word clanker migrated from early sci-fi, through Star Wars, into today’s conversations about automation and public life. It’s really about where frustration actually lands: not on the machine, but on the systems and power structures putting that machine in the room. If you’d like to support my research and writing during a slow hiring season, Ko‑fi contributions or memberships make a real difference. Sharing the post is also deeply helpful. Full essay here, no paywall: https://jgcarpenter.com/blog.html?blogPost=the-misdirection-what-clanker-reveals-about-power
A woman sits on a sofa, possibly in a casual cafe, smiling into her phone. An open laptop is across her lap. The text reads: "Early Calibration: A small cafe experiment and the first signs of public negotiation around AI companionship."
A photo of a woman sitting on a sofa, smiling into her phone and with an open laptop on her lap. The setting could be in a casual cafe. The text reads: "A small cafe experiment and the first signs of public negotiation around AI companionship."
A picture of Tesla's humanoid robot and the article title and date (March 18, 2025).
Hands holding a phone with ChatGPT open on the screen where several example prompts are displayed (e.g., "Explain quantum computing in simple terms.").
Cover for "The Naked Android: Synthetic Socialness and the Human Gaze." A red background with two blue androgynous, bald heads facing each other, their gaze connected with an orange design.
Image with dark blue background and a person's silhouette in shadow with binary code projected in red lights across their body. It says, "The work of being read. How the performance of self reorganizes under the pressure of being endlessly interpreted by AI."
Image with dark blue background and a person's silhouette in shadow with binary code projected in red lights across their body. It says, "The workd of being read. How the performance of self reorganizes under the pressure of being endlessly interpreted by AI.
Image shows head shots of Brian Green, Lt Col David Von Bargen, Tim Henderson. and myself. 11-am-Noon, tuesday, November 18. Benson Center, Williman Room. Register: events.scu.edu/ethics/event/ethics-age-autonomous-weapons
A white cat with gray dots and face markings lies on his playmat on the floor. Ludo is looking at the camera with his big yellow-green eyes as if caught mid-existential crisis, between naps.
"Every generation of technology promises to correct the last one’s blind spots in the name of innovation. But when the training data still bears the imprint of disbelief, and when women’s pain, reproductive health, or hormonal complexity remain under-documented, the algorithm learns to doubt them faster. A model that overlooks female presentation in heart disease or autoimmune conditions doesn’t just make a computational error; it reenacts centuries of dismissal under a statistical flag." From "The Default Body" essay: https://jgcarpenter.com/blog.html?blogPost=the-default-body-ai-health-data-illusion-of-objectivity
Image of Leonardo da Vinci's Vitruvian Man sketch and the blog article title, "The Default Body: AI, biased health data, and the illusion of objectivity." Image credit for the photo: dilara irem
“Meet your wannabe robot overlords: The privacy nightmare of networked home robots.” An image of Optimus black and white humanoid robot.
A photo of a woman facing the stage at a concert, hands clasped. There is a pink glow over the audience from stage lights. The text reads, "Presence, Engineered". Presence is a design choice: grief becomes a commodity, nostalgia becomes currency, and even the living are remade as ideals.
A Black person, head and shoulders in a gray sweater, slightly facing camera-left. Their face is being scanned by a red light. The background is light gray. It reads, "Every Face Evidence. What begins as security becomes suspicion, and with facial recognition, suspicion becomes routine power."
A Black person, head and shoulders in a gray sweater, slightly facing camera-left. Their face is being scanned by a red light. The background is light gray. It reads, "Every Face Evidence. What begins as security becomes suspicion, and with facial recognition, suspicion becomes routine power." https://jgcarpenter.com/blog.html?blogPost=every-face-evidence
A Black person, head and shoulders in a gray sweater, slightly facing camera-left. Their face is being scanned by a red light. The background is light gray.
Me wearing a hardhat and safety vest while at a San Francisco wastewater treatment plant.
A picture of an open older Phonolog recording listing catalog. Looked like a yellow pages on steroids.
"Your Settings Are Saved: Consent, simulation, and the reight to remain dead in the age of grief AI." A woman lying on a bed with her hands over her face. A camera and Polaroid photos are scattered around her head on the white bedcover.