The Behavioral Design Podcast

Oura AI Advisor with Dr. Ricky Bloomfield In this episode of the Behavioral Design Podcast, hosts Aline and Samuel are joined by Dr. Ricky Bloomfield, Chief Medical Officer at Oura, to explore how AI is changing the way people understand, interpret, and act on their health data. Together, they examine what makes AI-powered health coaching feel different from traditional digital health tools. From...

Season 4 Finale: Our Most Controversial AI Takes We wrap up Season 4 of the Behavioral Design Podcast with a different kind of conversation. Instead of looking outward at our guests’ insights, Aline and Samuel turn the mic on themselves, reflecting on the season, what we’ve learned, and the boldest, most controversial opinions we hold about AI. From questions about whether AI can truly emulate hum...

Season 4 Recap: Can AI Capture a Whole Season? In this special recap episode of the Behavioral Design Podcast, hosts Aline and Samuel reflect on the ambitious arc of Season 4—our deep dive into the intersection of behavioral science and artificial intelligence. From empathic chatbots to algorithmic sameness, AI co-therapists to synthetic friendships, we explored how AI is reshaping human behavior,...

Productivity in the Age of AI with Oliver Burkeman In this episode of the Behavioral Design Podcast, hosts Aline and Samuel are joined by Oliver Burkeman, journalist and bestselling author of Four Thousand Weeks, to explore what it means to live and work meaningfully in an era of accelerating AI. Together, they examine how AI tools are reshaping our relationship with time, focus, and control—from...

AI Co-Therapists with Alison Cerezo In this episode of the Behavioral Design Podcast, hosts Aline and Samuel talk with Dr. Alison Cerezo , a clinical psychologist, professor, and Senior Vice President of Research at Mpathic, a company developing AI tools that support therapists in delivering more empathetic and precise care. They explore the growing role of AI in mental health, from real-time feed...

Empathic Machines with Michael Inzlicht In this episode of the Behavioral Design Podcast, hosts Aline and Samuel are joined by Michael Inzlicht, professor of psychology at the University of Toronto and co-host of the podcast Two Psychologists Four Beers. Together, they explore the surprisingly effortful nature of empathy—and what happens when artificial intelligence starts doing it better than we...

How Do You Build a Moral AI? with Jana Schaich Borg In this episode of the Behavioral Design Podcast, hosts Aline and Samuel are joined by Jana Schaich Borg, Associate Research Professor at Duke University and co-author of the book “Moral AI and How We Get There”. Together they explore one of the thorniest and most important questions in the AI age: How do you encode human morality into machines—a...

Understanding AI Risks with Peter Slattery In this episode of the Behavioral Design Podcast, hosts Aline and Samuel are joined by Peter Slattery, behavioral scientist and lead researcher at MIT’s FutureTech lab, where he spearheads the groundbreaking AI Risk Repository project. Together, they dive into the complex and often overlooked risks of artificial intelligence—ranging from misinformation an...

Enter the AI Lab: Insights from LinkedIn Polls and AI Literature Reviews In this episode of the Behavioral Design Podcast, hosts Samuel Salzer and Aline Holzwarth explore how AI is shaping behavioral design processes —from discovery to testing. They revisit insights from past LinkedIn polls , analyzing audience perspectives on which phases of behavioral design are best suited for AI augmentation a...

When to AI, and When Not to AI with Eric Hekler "People are different. Context matters. Things change." In this episode of the Behavioral Design Podcast, Aline is joined by Eric Hekler, professor at UC San Diego, to explore the nuances of AI in behavioral science and health interventions. Eric’s mantra—emphasizing the importance of individual differences, context, and change—serves as a...

Sci-Fi and AI: Exploring Annie Bot with Sierra Greer In this episode of the Behavioral Design Podcast, hosts Aline and Samuel dive into the ethical, emotional, and societal complexities of AI companionship with special guest Sierra Greer, author of Annie Bot. This thought-provoking novel explores AI-human relationships, autonomy, and the blurred line between artificial intelligence and the human e...

AI and Behavioral Science in Public Policy with Laura de Moliere In this episode of the Behavioral Design Podcast, host Samuel Salzer is joined by Laura de Moliere, a behavioral scientist with deep expertise in applying behavioral insights to public policy. As the former head of behavioral science at the UK Cabinet Office, Laura has worked at the intersection of behavioral science and policymaking...

Predictions for 2025: AI, AGI, and the Future of Behavioral Science with Jared Peterson In this episode of the Behavioral Design Podcast, host Samuel is joined by Jared Peterson , a behavioral scientist and expert in decision science at Nuance Behavior. Together, they explore some of the most pressing questions and exciting developments at the intersection of AI, behavioral science, and the future...

Exploring Psychological Targeting and the Power of AI with Sandra Matz In this episode of the Behavioral Design Podcast, hosts Aline and Samuel sit down with Sandra Matz , leading expert on psychological targeting and Associate Professor of Business at Columbia Business School. As a computational social scientist, Sandra uses Big Data analytics and experimental methods to study human behavior, unc...

Behavior Change Score with Roos van Duijnhoven In this special episode of the Behavioral Design Podcast, host Samuel continues the mini-series featuring expert practitioners from the Nuance Behavior team. This week’s guest is Roos van Duijnhoven, a behavioral scientist with a deep passion for designing human-centered digital solutions that drive meaningful behavior change. Samuel and Roos explore...

Real-Time Behavior Change Algorithms with Susan Murphy In this thought-provoking episode of the Behavioral Design Podcast, hosts Aline and Samuel explore the cutting edge of AI in behavioral science with Professor Susan Murphy, a world-renowned expert in statistics and behavioral research. The conversation dives into Susan's groundbreaking work on micro-randomized trials and just-in-time adaptive...

AI Chatbots and Synthetic Users with Hassan Aleem In this special episode of the Behavioral Design Podcast, host Samuel kicks off a new mini-series featuring expert practitioners from the Nuance Behavior team. This week’s guest is Hassan Aleem , a respected behavioral practitioner with a Ph. D. in neuroscience and extensive experience in industries like fintech, health wearables, and public health...

Using AI to Change Human Behavior In this episode of the Behavioral Design Podcast, hosts Aline Holzwarth and Samuel Salzer explore the fascinating intersection of AI and behavioral science with Amy Bucher , Chief Behavior Officer at Lirio. Together, they dive into the challenges and opportunities of integrating AI with behavioral science for health interventions, focusing on the critical need to...

Debunkbot and Other Tools Against Misinformation In this follow-up episode of the Behavioral Design Podcast, hosts Aline Holzwarth and Samuel Salzer welcome back Gordon Pennycook, psychology professor at Cornell University, to continue their deep dive into the battle against misinformation. Building on their previous conversation around misinformation’s impact on democratic participation and the r...

The Role of Misinformation and AI in the US Election with Gordon Pennycook In this episode of the Behavioral Design Podcast, hosts Aline and Samuel explore the complex world of misinformation in the context of the U.S. elections with special guest Gordon Pennycook, a psychology professor at Cornell University. The episode covers the effects of misinformation on democratic participation, and how be...

In this spine-chilling Halloween special of the Behavioral Design Podcast, co-hosts Aline Holzwarth and Samuel Salzer take listeners on a journey into the eerie intersection of AI and behavioral science. They explore the potential ethical and social consequences of AI, from our urge to anthropomorphize machines to the creeping influence of human biases in AI engineering. The episode kicks off with...

In this episode of the Behavioral Design Podcast , we delve into the world of AI recommender systems with special guest Carey Morewedge , a leading expert in behavioral science and AI. The discussion covers the fundamental mechanics behind AI recommendation systems, including content-based filtering , collaborative filtering , and hybrid models . Carey explains how platforms like Netflix , Twitter...

In the latest episode of the Behavioral Design Podcast , we are excited to launch Season 4 with an in-depth exploration of how behavioral science and AI converge, setting the stage for an engaging and thought-provoking season. This episode tackles big questions around AI’s growing influence, offering insights into both its promise and its challenges, especially as they relate to human behavior and...

We've reached the end of Season 3! 🎉 In this finale, we give you the inside scoop on topics behavioral design from 2023. From our favorite resources to AI to films, we explore all things behavioral design, so you too are in the inside scoop! All resources are linked below. Enjoy! From the bottom of our hearts, thank you for supporting us throughout the year! We appreciate you! 🙏 🙌 Gratitude...

Welcome to the latest Product Deep Dive! ⁠💊 In this bonus series of the Behavioral Design Podcast, we take a closer look at the seemingly simple, yet tremendously important, pill bottle. Previous guest, Aarthi Rao , took her stab at designing the best pill bottle, so we decided to deep dive into all things behavioral design in the pill bottle world, ourselves! Easy, attractive, social, personaliz...