Julie Carpenter, PhD
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jgcarpenter.com
Julie Carpenter, PhD
@jgcarpenter.com
3.3K followers 1.2K following 980 posts
Researcher of people and technology. AI & attachment. Learning scientist. UXR. Golems. Robots. Cat pics. Book: “The Naked Android: Synthetic Socialness and the Human Gaze.” jgcarpenter.com
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jgcarpenter.com
When visibility in enforcement encounters arrives late, selectively, or through informal recordings rather than accountable systems, it doesn’t clarify what happened, it narrows who gets to interpret it.. "Visibility Without Consent" (no paywall):
jgcarpenter.com/blog.html?bl...
"Visibility Without Consent: AI wearables and the reorganization of power." The profile of a person whose face is covered with a woolen scarf being pulled back tightly to reveal the wearer's profile. The figure is completely covered in the scarf and an overcoat.
January 10, 2026 at 5:56 PM
jgcarpenter.com
Enforcement footage doesn’t just document events, it structures interpretation. It invites viewer interpretation without context, shifting scrutiny onto recorded people while institutions remain opaque. "Visibility Without Consent" (no paywall): jgcarpenter.com/blog.html?bl...
"Visibility Without Consent: AI wearables and the reorganization of power." The profile of a person whose face is covered with a woolen scarf being pulled back tightly to reveal the wearer's profile. The figure is completely covered in the scarf and an overcoat.
January 10, 2026 at 5:44 PM
jgcarpenter.com
ChatGPT Health doesn’t replace healthcare; it consolidates health data and inserts an always-on AI interpretive layer between patients and care. New post (no paywall), "ChatGPT Health and the Expansion of Infrastructural Intimacy":
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A woman and child on a sofa in a living room. The woman is on the phone, leaning over the child who is rubbing his eyes as if ill.
January 8, 2026 at 4:02 AM
jgcarpenter.com
“Meet without meeting” and “be in two places at once” are not worker benefits. They’re managerial fantasies that erase absence, rest, and limits while keeping output intact.

This is a labor fantasy where workers never fully log off, never fully leave, and never quite stop meeting even when absent.
A screenshot of Zoom Workplace "Clips" explainer card that reads: Clips allows you to meet without meeting, cover for yourself when you're out, or be in two places at once by sending a Clip so you can skip.
January 7, 2026 at 11:40 PM
jgcarpenter.com
Final version submitted for publication. 🥳
A screenshot that reads: Submission received. Thank you for submitting to AI & Society.
January 4, 2026 at 7:37 PM
jgcarpenter.com
Thinking about how many technologies assume confidence as a default setting, and how little room they leave for hesitation. "The Expectation of Immediate Knowing: How generative AI reframes hesitation as a deficit" jgcarpenter.com/blog.html?bl...
Text: The Expectation of Immediate Knowing. How generative ALA reframes hesitation as deficit. Image: A woman in a workplace training classroom raises her hand.
January 3, 2026 at 10:32 PM
jgcarpenter.com
As generative AI systems produce immediate, fluent output, hesitation is becoming socially misread. A pause, or the phrase "I don't know," used to mark judgment and even signal others to collaborate; now it’s treated as friction. New essay up, no paywall: jgcarpenter.com/blog.html?bl...
Text reads: The Expectation of Immediate Knowing How generative AI reframes hesitation as a deficit. The image is a workplace training room with about a dozen people seated. A woman raises her hand with a questions while her peers stare at her.
January 1, 2026 at 10:59 PM
jgcarpenter.com
If it’s possible, please keep sharing these links because reach matters. Sadly, 2025 brought me unemployment & health problems: savings are gone, no retirement funds left to draw from, and there’s no family support to fall back on. GFM: www.gofundme.com/f/donate-to-... Venmo: @jgcarpenter.com
This year has marked a level of medical instability that I didn’t anticipate. I had a heart attack, needed blood transfusions, experienced serious falls at home from medication side effects that resulted in injury, and made multiple hospital visits due to alarming test results that disclosed a genetic blood disorder. Each episode added urgency without bringing clear answers. The next significant step is a hematology appointment in the third week of January (the earliest date my insurance allowed), which should finally help determine what’s driving these issues and what treatment, if any, comes next. These health events have shaped every aspect of life: my ability to work, my financial stability, and the practical decisions that can’t be deferred. I’m continuing to apply for jobs and taking whatever short-term work is possible. I’m profoundly grateful for the support I’ve received this year. The reality is that if January doesn’t bring more precise answers and some form of income, I’ll be facing very difficult choices about housing, stability, and even being separated from my dear cat, Ludo. If you’re able, please consider sharing my GoFundMe and Venmo. Visibility genuinely helps right now, and I’m deeply thankful to everyone who has kept me going through an extremely hard year. I’m incredibly grateful for every bit of help. GFM: https://www.gofundme.com/f/donate-to-help-julie-carpenter-medical-and-living-expenses Venmo: @jgcarpenter
December 30, 2025 at 8:43 PM
jgcarpenter.com
Describing ChatGPT voice mode as “probably” therapy highlights a real-world symptom: people map care onto AI systems without clinical training, no duty of care, no safeguards, no understanding, and no accountability. I unpacked the harms and design consequences here: jgcarpenter.com/blog.html?bl...
A woman looks at her reflection in the shard of a mirror she holds in her hand. The background is unclear. It reads: "A dangerous imitation of care: The real costs of using generative AI as a therapist." August 2, 2025
December 30, 2025 at 12:23 AM
jgcarpenter.com
I wrote a thing. New essay (no paywall or ads): "The Comfort of Scale." I look at why AI is now being framed as a way to clear emotional burden, and what institutions gain when systems are imagined to absorb feeling. jgcarpenter.com/blog.html?bl...
"The Comfort of Scale: AI and the convenience of the emotional 'detox' narrative" A refracted image of a woman with her hands at her temples. She is looking directly at the camera.
December 23, 2025 at 6:19 PM
jgcarpenter.com
Work and school systems are quietly reorganizing around AI-mediated output, leaving non-AI-mediated work harder to evaluate even when it’s careful and sound. "When the Opt-Out Disappears: AI, institutions, and the loss of neutral refusal." No paywall: jgcarpenter.com/blog.html?bl...
It reads: "When the opt-out disappears: AI, institutions, and the loss of neutral refusal." Scrabble tiles read: COMMIT OR QUIT. https://jgcarpenter.com/blog.html?blogPost=when-the-opt-out-disappears
December 16, 2025 at 6:48 PM
jgcarpenter.com
AIs that mimic the dead blur grief, memory, and consent. 2wai’s demo is only the start. I’ve been writing about what happens when mourning becomes interactive in "Your Settings Are Saved" (no paywall): jgcarpenter.com/blog.html?bl...
A woman lies on a bed with her hands covering her eyes. Photos are scattered around her on the bed. "Your Settings Are Saved Consent, simulation, and the right to remain dead in the age of grief AI," Julie Carpenter (she/her), June 19, 2025.
December 10, 2025 at 6:31 PM
jgcarpenter.com
I’ve posted a new essay today: "The Misdirection." No paywall! If you’d like to support my research and writing during a slow hiring season, Ko-fi makes a real difference! Sharing the post is also deeply helpful. ko-fi.com/post/The-Mis...
The Misdirection https://jgcarpenter.com/blog.html?blogPost=the-misdirection-what-clanker-reveals-about-power I’ve posted a new Drift essay today: "The Misdirection," a look at how the word clanker migrated from early sci-fi, through Star Wars, into today’s conversations about automation and public life. It’s really about where frustration actually lands: not on the machine, but on the systems and power structures putting that machine in the room. If you’d like to support my research and writing during a slow hiring season, Ko‑fi contributions or memberships make a real difference. Sharing the post is also deeply helpful. Full essay here, no paywall: https://jgcarpenter.com/blog.html?blogPost=the-misdirection-what-clanker-reveals-about-power
December 9, 2025 at 6:01 PM
jgcarpenter.com
"Synthetic intimacy is neither wholly dystopian nor uncomplicatedly hopeful. It is an evolving relationship between desire, constraint, and technological convenience, surfacing in a moment when many people seek connection in whatever form remains accessible." jgcarpenter.com/blog.html?bl...
A woman sits on a sofa, possibly in a casual cafe, smiling into her phone. An open laptop is across her lap. The text reads: "Early Calibration: A small cafe experiment and the first signs of public negotiation around AI companionship."
December 7, 2025 at 11:49 PM
jgcarpenter.com
New post, no paywall! "Early Calibration."
A look at the NYC AI-companion café and what it shows about the early normalization of synthetic intimacy in public space. jgcarpenter.com/blog.html?bl...
A photo of a woman sitting on a sofa, smiling into her phone and with an open laptop on her lap. The setting could be in a casual cafe. The text reads: "A small cafe experiment and the first signs of public negotiation around AI companionship."
December 6, 2025 at 8:59 PM
jgcarpenter.com
I had an invitation to appear on a Fox News show to discuss the Tesla robot today (no). Read what I really think about the humanoid robot from Tesla here (no paywall) in "Meet Your Wannabe Robot Overlords:
The Privacy Nightmare of Networked Home Robots": jgcarpenter.com/blog.html?bl...
A picture of Tesla's humanoid robot and the article title and date (March 18, 2025).
December 4, 2025 at 6:49 PM
jgcarpenter.com
New essay up (no paywall or ads): "The Afterlife of a Prompt."
On how fleeting moments of expression outlast their circumstances inside the AI systems that learn from them. jgcarpenter.com/blog.html?bl...
Hands holding a phone with ChatGPT open on the screen where several example prompts are displayed (e.g., "Explain quantum computing in simple terms.").
November 28, 2025 at 8:43 PM
jgcarpenter.com
I had a book come out this year! “The Naked Android” explores the connections between the stories people tell, their expectations of what a robot is, and how these beliefs and values manifest in how real robots are designed and used.

www.routledge.com/The-Naked-An...
Cover for "The Naked Android: Synthetic Socialness and the Human Gaze." A red background with two blue androgynous, bald heads facing each other, their gaze connected with an orange design.
November 25, 2025 at 9:49 PM
jgcarpenter.com
AI doesn’t see you, it categorizes you. Yet the categorization feeds back into your life in very human ways: risk scores, eligibility, moderation decisions. "The Work of Being Read" is basically about that loop and what it costs.

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Image with dark blue background and a person's silhouette in shadow with binary code projected in red lights across their body. It says, "The work of being read. How the performance of self reorganizes under the pressure of being endlessly interpreted by AI."
November 24, 2025 at 7:52 PM
jgcarpenter.com
New essay is up (no paywall): "The Work of Being Read." It’s about how our behavior shifts when we know AI is watching, interpreting, & scoring us, often incorrectly, but w/ real consequences at home, work, and school. jgcarpenter.com/blog.html?bl...
Image with dark blue background and a person's silhouette in shadow with binary code projected in red lights across their body. It says, "The workd of being read. How the performance of self reorganizes under the pressure of being endlessly interpreted by AI.
November 23, 2025 at 7:07 PM
jgcarpenter.com
I will be a panelist on the upcoming "Code, Command, and Consequences: Ethics in the Age of Autonomous Weapons." I researched & wrote the book "Culture and Human-Robot Interaction in Militarized Spaces: A War Story." Register: events.scu.edu/ethics/event/ethics-age-autonomous-weapons
Image shows head shots of Brian Green, Lt Col David Von Bargen, Tim Henderson. and myself. 11-am-Noon, tuesday, November 18. Benson Center, Williman Room. Register: events.scu.edu/ethics/event/ethics-age-autonomous-weapons
November 13, 2025 at 12:28 AM
jgcarpenter.com
Ludo, caught mid-existential crisis and between naps. He believes that meaning is a human construct. #Caturday, however, is real.
A white cat with gray dots and face markings lies on his playmat on the floor. Ludo is looking at the camera with his big yellow-green eyes as if caught mid-existential crisis, between naps.
October 25, 2025 at 8:16 PM
jgcarpenter.com
From new blog essay up, "The Default Body" (no paywall) jgcarpenter.com/blog.html?bl... #AI #bias #data #gender #medicine
"Every generation of technology promises to correct the last one’s blind spots in the name of innovation. But when the training data still bears the imprint of disbelief, and when women’s pain, reproductive health, or hormonal complexity remain under-documented, the algorithm learns to doubt them faster. A model that overlooks female presentation in heart disease or autoimmune conditions doesn’t just make a computational error; it reenacts centuries of dismissal under a statistical flag." From "The Default Body" essay: https://jgcarpenter.com/blog.html?blogPost=the-default-body-ai-health-data-illusion-of-objectivity
October 19, 2025 at 5:14 PM
jgcarpenter.com
New blog post (never a paywall): "The Default Body: AI, biased health data, and the illusion of objectivity." Medicine's idea of a “universal body” was never universal. It was male, and now AI is learning from that legacy. Bias doesn’t disappear in data; it scales. jgcarpenter.com/blog.html?bl...
Image of Leonardo da Vinci's Vitruvian Man sketch and the blog article title, "The Default Body: AI, biased health data, and the illusion of objectivity." Image credit for the photo: dilara irem
October 19, 2025 at 5:03 PM
jgcarpenter.com
I called military and industry pivot/focus to humanoid robots in my first book and earlier papers. More recently, I’ve written about the user surveillance and privacy nightmare of networked home robots. jgcarpenter.com/blog.html?bl...
“Meet your wannabe robot overlords: The privacy nightmare of networked home robots.” An image of Optimus black and white humanoid robot.
September 27, 2025 at 4:19 AM