I have devoted much of my university and professional life to the question of how to live wisely and more healthily with technology.
As an undergraduate studying psychology, one of my favorite seminars was with the psychologist Albert Bandura on personal and social change. It motivated me to pursue an M.S. in Symbolic Systems at Stanford to learn how technology could be used for positive individual and societal transformation. However, soon thereafter in 2010, I began questioning the darker sides of technology especially around social media. This sparked my interest in researching the psychosocial risks of these potent technologies and seeing how technology could be redesigned after honestly taking these realities to heart.
This resulted in the intellectual through line permeating much of my career. I am currently focused on this now in the context of artificial intelligence and the new psychological risks of an emerging attachment economy. Once more, I am interested in how technology in the form of AI can be redesigned for good by first coming to terms with the hacking of these psychological vulnerabilities. From here, I hope to contribute to innovation and solutions in this space.
My approach and philosophy with AI is a human-centered one where clarity is developed on where AI should assist and enhance and where it should never replace. I have led the development of such AI-assistive technologies in the context of delivering human coaching and therapy. I am deeply passionate about continuing to contribute to such a human-centered future that stewards technology to support human wisdom and compassion.
Below are links to talks, articles, and podcasts I have worked on in technology and digital life.