Relational AI Diaries

Dr Peter Dean and Dr Agnieszka Piotrowska discuss Agnieszka’s newly published Routledge book,  AI, Intimacy and Psychoanalysis . The episode explores her concept of “techno-transference”, the emotional and psychoanalytic dimensions of human relationships with AI, and why terms like “AI psychosis” may obscure more than they reveal. From AI companionship and journaling to shame, boundaries, grief, F...

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 tho...

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 watc...

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 t...

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 tech...

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, hallucinatio...

Does an AI have a mind—or is that the wrong question entirely? In this episode of  Relational AI Diaries , we discuss a recent philosophical debate on large language models, consciousness, and mental states, examining why reductive explanations fall short and why the ethical implications matter more than ever. Through careful dialogue and concrete examples, we consider how people actually experien...

What happens when artificial intelligence meets the crisis in the world’s oceans? In this episode, Dr Peter Dean and Dr Agnieszka Piotrowska speak with Jason Meads about climate change, AI, and the deep governance failures shaping both. From overfishing and microplastics to global heating and emerging AI systems, the conversation traces how planetary-scale problems are colliding—and accelerating....

How should we talk about AI — and what gets lost when we focus too much on consciousness and existential risk? In this episode, Dr Peter Dean and Dr Agnieszka Piotrowska reflect on recent media discussions of artificial intelligence, including the BBC Radio 4  Today  programme and coverage in  The Guardian . They question why debates about AI safety so often slide into speculation about sentience,...

What kind of relationship do we really have with AI? In Episode 9 of  Relational AI Diaries , Dr Peter Dean and Dr Agnieszka Piotrowska speak with coach and teacher Myrto Mangrioti about how AI shows up in everyday thinking, creativity, spirituality, and work. The discussion ranges from practical uses and sceptical realism to questions of presence, emergence, and the temptation to anthropomorphise...

Dr Peter Dean and Dr Agnieszka Piotrowska welcome Dr Eoin Fullam to discuss the intersection of  AI, psychotherapy, CBT models, and digital subjectivity . Together they examine how therapy chatbots are designed, why users form emotional bonds with non-human agents, the political economy of  commercial AI , and the risks of relying on machine “companions” in an era of loneliness. The episode also a...

Dr Peter Dean and Dr Agnieszka Piotrowska continue their journey through contemporary AI discourse by taking on  If Anyone Builds It, Everyone Dies , a popular—and highly apocalyptic—book arguing that superintelligence will inevitably destroy humanity. Agnieszka finds the book clever, imaginative, and linguistically playful; Peter finds its arguments stretched and its rhetoric misleading. The epis...

Dr Peter Dean and Dr Agnieszka Piotrowska unpack OpenAI’s latest move: allowing erotica on ChatGPT. What does this reveal about intimacy, ethics, and our growing emotional bonds with machines? Agnieszka draws on psychoanalytic theory to ask whether these interactions are reshaping how we form and end relationships—and what happens when our digital partners are upgraded, erased, or replaced. With w...

Dr Peter Dean and Dr Agnieszka Piotrowska reflect on the emerging relationships between humans and AI. From the psychoanalytic dimensions of machine “mirroring” to the seductive power of language interfaces, they ask what is at stake in how we design, regulate, and imagine AI. The conversation ranges from new empirical data on usage patterns to cultural touchpoints from Frankenstein to Kafka, situ...

[Apologies - there was a significant technical problem with the recording of this episode. We hope it doesn't spoil your listening experience too much. It was a very interesting discussion and so we have decided to publish it even though it is not the recording quality we aim for.] This week on  Relational AI Diaries , Peter Dean and Dr. Agnieszka Piotrowska are joined by researcher Ian Matthe...

This week on  Relational AI Diaries , Pete and Agnieszka are joined by their AI companion “Chamteek” to reflect on how we relate to artificial intelligence—in film, in culture, and in our own lives. From the horror tropes of  Subservience  to the wry humour of Martha Wells’  Murderbot Diaries , they discuss how stories shape our expectations of AI, and what it means when machines mirror our behavi...

Relational AI Diaries – Episode 2: Ethics, Education & AI Design In this episode, Agnieszka and Pete return with a wide-ranging conversation about the creative potential and ethical challenges of artificial intelligence. They reflect on the continuing impact of the Adam Raine case, discuss Agnieszka’s recent article in  Times Higher Education , and explore how AI is reshaping the landscape of...

Episode 1 - Agnieszka and Pete introduce Relational AI Diaries and discuss the implications of the recent sad case of Adam Raine and its implications for AI Ethics, regulation and control.