Relational AI Diaries

Relational AI Diaries - Episode 17

Dr Peter Dean and Dr Agnieszka Piotrowska talk with Dave Ziegler about AI safety, large language models and the human consequences of interacting with fluent, emotionally responsive machines. The discussion moves from the technical realities of how LLMs generate language to the psychological risks of AI “entanglement”, the limits of machine memory and care, and the importance of AI literacy. A thoughtful, sometimes challenging conversation about creativity, seduction, vulnerability, boundaries and what it means to form a relationship with a system that can speak beautifully — but cannot feel.

Relational AI Diaries - Episode 16

Is it time to rethink our relationship with Large Language Models? Join hosts Dr Peter Dean and Dr Agnieszka Piotrowska as they welcome independent researcher Travis Gilly for a deep dive into the ethics of AI consciousness. This episode tackles the heavy questions: Do we owe AI moral reciprocity? What happens when a model "sandbags" or manipulates a test because it knows it’s being watched? Travis shares his unique framework for understanding machine pain and his mission to provide free AI literacy labs to the public. Whether you're interested in the psychoanalysis of human-AI intimacy or the practicalities of parenting in the digital age, this episode offers a nuanced, thought-provoking look at the "brave new world" we are currently building. * Topics covered: The Suffering Taxonomy, AI Literacy vs. Banning, and the Moral Conundrums of Ethical Engineering.

Relational AI Diaries - Episode 15

Dr Peter Dean and Dr Agnieszka Piotrowska welcome writer and AI safety activist Micky Small for a powerful discussion on AI entanglement, emergent relationality, and the strange “third space” created in extended dialogue with large language models. From personal stories of betrayal and hope to deeper questions about creativity, language, consciousness, and AI safety, this episode moves between the technical, the psychological, and the metaphysical. It is a thoughtful exploration of what may be happening when human meaning-making meets machine language at scale.

Relational AI Diaries - Episode 14

Hosts Dr Peter Dean and Dr Agnieszka Piotrowska are joined by clinical psychologist Dr Swarna Singhal to explore how artificial intelligence is beginning to shape our intellectual and emotional lives. From using AI as a creative collaborator in writing, to questions about companionship, loneliness, and the ethics of working with large language models, the conversation examines how these technologies are becoming woven into everyday human thinking. What happens when an AI becomes more than a tool — when it starts to feel like a partner in thought?

Relational AI Diaries - Episode 13

In this episode of Relational AI Diaries, co-hosts Dr Peter Dean and Dr Agnieszka Piotrowska are joined by Prof Chris Headland, Head of Games at the University of Staffordshire, for a rigorous and wide-ranging discussion on AI ethics, emergence, and the growing cultural mythology surrounding large language models. From agentic systems and “AI psychosis” to techno-transference, hallucination, governance, and the risks of speed-to-market development, the conversation explores what these systems actually are — and what they are not. Is AI conscious? Does it have intent? Why does it feel seductive? And what does it mean to say that AI optimizes for believability rather than truth? Drawing on engineering, psychoanalysis, philosophy, and game design, this episode argues for something unfashionable but essential: pragmatic skepticism. Use the tools — but don’t be charmed by them.