About this episode
How do we prepare students—and ourselves—for a world where AI grief companions and "deadbots" are a reality? In this eye-opening episode, Jeff Utecht sits down with Dr. Tomasz Hollanek, a critical design and AI ethics researcher at the University of Cambridge's Leverhulme Centre for the Future of Intelligence, to discuss: The rise of AI companions like Character.AI and Replika Emotional manipulation risks and the ethics of human-AI relationships What educators need to know about the EU AI Act and digital consent How to teach AI literacy beyond skill-building—focusing on ethics, emotional health, and the environmental impact of generative AI Promising examples: preserving Indigenous languages and Holocaust survivor testimonies through AI From griefbots to regulation loopholes, Tomasz explains why educators are essential voices in shaping how AI unfolds in schools and society—and how we can avoid repeating the harms of the social media era. Dr Tomasz Hollanek is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Leverhulme Centre for the Future of Intelligence (LCFI) and an Affiliated Lecturer in the Department of Computer Science and Technology at the University of Cambridge, working at the intersection of AI ethics and critical design. His current research focuses on the ethics of human-AI interaction design and the challenges of developing critical AI literacy among diverse stakeholder groups; related to the latter research stream is the work on AI, media, and communications that he is leading at LCFI. Connect with him: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s13347-024-00744-w https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/items/d3229fe5-db87-42ff-869b-11e0538014d8 https://www.desirableai.com/journalism-toolkit 📌 Key Takeaways Teenagers are vulnerable AI users. Many systems simulate empathy while bypassing meaningful regulation or safeguards.
