Algorithms have become central to discovering new music and products online – but are machine-led recommendations always welcome? Canvas8 spoke to Chiara Longoni, an assistant professor at Boston University, to understand how people’s goals impact their willingness to trust AI.

People put more trust in AI when it provides practical information, rather than info that’s experiential or sensory, a study finds. With smart tech becoming more intricately woven into our daily lives, people have higher expectations that tech will enhance – not hinder – interactions.

With the long-term impact of lockdown yet to be fully felt, there are signs of what the ‘new normal’ looks like. Take Replika, the AI chatbot helping Gen Zers to feel less lonely. As tech fulfils a multitude of needs for young people, a chatbot may be the next frontier in friendship.

Amid concerns about biases, programmers have worked to make algorithms more benevolent. But while people have grown more trustful of benevolent AI, they’re unwilling to cooperate with it as they would with other people. This poses challenges for the future of AI-human relations.