Giving Machines Human Voices

Juliana Schroeder, Assistant Professor in the Haas Management of Organizations Group, will speak about her research on the impact of giving machines human-like voices. Treating a human mind like a machine is an essential component of dehumanization, whereas attributing a humanlike mind to a machine is an essential component of anthropomorphism. Schroeder recently conducted experiments showing that “people are more likely to infer a human (vs. computer) creator when they hear a voice expressing thoughts than when they read the same thoughts in text.”  She will explain her research and discuss implications for dehumanizing others through text-based media, and for anthropomorphizing machines through speech-based media.