News & Experiences

On 26 February 2026 , the Koninklijke Nederlandse Akademie van Wetenschappen (KNAW) hosts the public event “AI will always love you” at the Trippenhuis in Amsterdam . The evening examines how we build relationships with machines such as robots and chatbots, and whether these interactions influence our human connections. Prof. dr. Elly Konijn and dr. Tessa Beinema will be speaking at this event. Elly Konijn will address the psychological dynamics of human-robot interaction,

sHAI members Tibor Bosse and Evelien Heijselaar will discuss this question with AI program developer Sander Veenhof and AI and law expert Jessie Levano on Tuesday, February 17th, during the VPRO Meet Up "AI as Friend, Therapist, or Partner" at Pakhuis de Zwijger in Amsterdam . The discussion will be in Dutch, and will be moderated by Charley Fiedeldij Dop. More information about the evening can be found at:  https://dezwijger.nl/programma/ai-als-vriend-therapeut-of-partner

On November 25th, 2025, Erkan Basar successfully defended his dissertation at Radboud University Nijmegen. His research addresses the question: How can we develop and evaluate engaging long-term chatbots with adequate conversational skills for promoting healthy lifestyles? Chatbots for Health Counselling Erkan’s work provides insights from various perspectives that strengthen our understanding of developing and employing chatbots for health counseling . As traditional counsel

On September 19th, 2025, Rebecca Wald successfully defended her dissertation at the University of Amsterdam. Her research addresses the question: To what extent do characteristics of parents with young children shape the deployment of smart speakers in the home? Smart Speakers in the Family Home Rebecca’s work dives into the growing presence of smart speakers in family life. Think Alexa, Google Assistant, Siri and co. While these devices are becoming increasingly common, the

On April 23rd, 2025, Navya Sharan successfully defended her dissertation at the University of Amsterdam. Navya’s dissertation explores the timely research question: how do we socially interact with digital agents, and to what extent do existing theoretical frameworks explain these interactions? Are We Still Treating Computers Like People? Navya’s work challenges one of the foundational theoretical lines in human-machine communication: the Computers-Are-Social-Actors (CASA) f

At the very end of Etmaal 2025 , after all the other participants had already started to head home, there was a General Assembly. This GA...

There is another PhD graduate in our sHAI group! On November 5th, 2024, Marieke Wieringa  successfully defended her dissertation at Radboud University , exploring a fascinating question: Can robots feel pain? When Robots "Suffer" Marieke and her team conducted experiments where participants interacted with robots in different ways. Some watched videos of robots being mistreated, while others were asked to shake a robot themselves. When the robot showed no reaction , participa

For regular attendees of our monthly sHAI meetings, my criticism of the original studies that formed the CASA Theory is well-known. And I...

Algorithms will inevitably play an increasing role in our lives in the coming years. Yet it is often suggested that people are wary of...

Developing personalized chatbots to improve student well-being Students in higher education are struggling: more than half have burnout...

On 16 and 17 February 2023, the School for Information and Knowledge Systems (SIKS) organizes the SIKS-course “Social Artificial...

How do you achieve natural ‘social’ interactions in AI applications, for example, when robots are employed in healthcare, education and...