Kate Darling: Social Robots, Ethics, Privacy and the Future of MIT | Lex Fridman Podcast #329

ℹ️ EPISODE INFO

Released

October 15, 2022

Duration

3h 3m

Channel

Lex Fridman Podcast

Watch on YouTube

▶ Open ↗

📝 EPISODE DESCRIPTION

Kate Darling is a researcher at MIT Media Lab interested in human robot interaction and robot ethics. Please support this podcast by checking out our sponsors:

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EPISODE LINKS: Kate's Twitter: http://twitter.com/grok_ Kate's Website: http://katedarling.org Kate's Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/grok_ The New Breed (book): https://amzn.to/3ExhBuf Creativity without Law (book): https://amzn.to/3MqV5F3 PODCAST INFO: Podcast website: https://lexfridman.com/podcast Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/2lwqZIr Spotify: https://spoti.fi/2nEwCF8 RSS: https://lexfridman.com/feed/podcast/ Full episodes playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLrAXtmErZgOdP_8GztsuKi9nrraNbKKp4 Clips playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLrAXtmErZgOeciFP3CBCIEElOJeitOr41 OUTLINE: 0:00 - Introduction 1:46 - What is a robot? 17:47 - Metaverse 27:09 - Bias in robots 40:51 - Modern robotics 43:24 - Automation 47:46 - Autonomous driving 56:11 - Privacy 59:37 - Google's LaMDA 1:04:24 - Robot animal analogy 1:17:28 - Data concerns 1:35:30 - Humanoid robots 1:54:31 - LuLaRobot 2:03:25 - Ethics in robotics 2:18:46 - Jeffrey Epstein 2:52:21 - Love and relationships SOCIAL:

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🎤 SPEAKERS

• Kate Darling

  guest

• Lex Fridman

  host

🧾 EPISODE SUMMARY

In this episode of Lex Fridman Podcast, featuring Kate Darling and Lex Fridman, Kate Darling: Social Robots, Ethics, Privacy and the Future of MIT | Lex Fridman Podcast #329 explores robots as Pets, Not People: Ethics, Emotion, and MIT’s Future Lex Fridman and MIT roboticist Kate Darling explore how we should think about robots and AI, arguing that viewing them as analogous to domesticated animals is more useful than comparing them to humans. They discuss social robots, human–robot interaction, bias, privacy, and the dangers of using emotionally persuasive machines for marketing and surveillance. The conversation also covers autonomous vehicles, humanoid robots like Tesla’s Optimus, and how corporate risk-aversion and PR culture often kill creativity and good design. In a personal and critical segment, Kate reflects on the Jeffrey Epstein scandal, institutional cowardice at MIT, and what real leadership and accountability should look like.

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