MIT Professor · Founding Director, Cyborg Psychology · Co-director, Advancing Humans with AI

Website · MIT Profile · Projects · Google Scholar · ORCID

I am an assistant professor, technologist, and researcher at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), where I am the founding director of the Cyborg Psychology research group. I also serve as co-director of the MIT Media Lab Advancing Humans with AI (AHA) Research Program.

My research lies at the intersection of AI and human-computer interaction. I invent, investigate, and inspire next-generation human–AI systems for human flourishing—applying insights from human psychology to AI and understanding how AI impacts human psychology.

I love dinosaurs. 🦖🦕

My research has been translated into real-world impact, ranging from Future You, a widely adopted AI digital twin for supporting long-term thinking that has been used in over 100 countries worldwide, to research that has shaped legislation protecting children from companion AI, and leading efforts to develop the first open benchmark for the human impact of AI in collaboration with leaders across academia, industry, and government. I also serve as an advisor to the Psychology of Technology Institute and Partnership on AI.

As founding director of the Cyborg Psychology research group at the MIT Media Lab, I lead a team of interdisciplinary researchers to develop and study how AI can both augment and diminish human learning, decision-making, critical thinking, creativity, and other critical dimensions of human experience. My group is among the first to investigate emerging phenomena through empirical studies examining how AI reshapes cognition, emotion, and behavior—from emotional dependence on AI companions and cognitive manipulation to false-memory implantation, placebo effects of human–AI interaction, and the co-evolution of human and machine intelligence.

My research contributions have been published in numerous peer-reviewed journals and conference proceedings, including ACM SIGCHI venues (CHI, IUI, DIS, ISWC, and AHs), ACM SIGGRAPH, NeurIPS, ICML, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), Nature Machine Intelligence, Nature Biotechnology, Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), and New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM AI).

My work has been highlighted by the United Nations AI for Good forum and featured in MIT Technology Review, the New York Times, the Guardian, Bloomberg, the Washington Post, Forbes, the Atlantic, Scientific American, the Wall Street Journal, and more. It has also been honored as one of TIME’s “Best Inventions of 2023” and included in Fast Company’s “2023 World Changing Ideas.”

I have collaborated with researchers from academia and industry, including teams from NASA, Stanford Medicine, Harvard, Mass General Brigham, UCSB, UCLA, UC Irvine, Microsoft Research, OpenAI, NTT Data, KBTG, and more.

My projects have been exhibited at the MIT Museum (Massachusetts), Asia Pacific Triennial (Queensland Art Gallery, Australia), The Art Gallery of Western Australia (Australia), MAXXI: National Museum of 21st Century Art (Italy), Bangkok Art Biennale (Thailand), Bangkok City Gallery (Thailand), National Museum of Singapore (Singapore), Peabody Essex Museum (USA), London Design Festival (UK), Transmediale Festival (Germany), National Taiwan Science Education Center (Taiwan), IDEA Museum (Arizona), Mesa Arts Center (Arizona), Autodesk Gallery (California), SIGGRAPH Asia (Tokyo), Ars Electronica (Virtual), and more.

I co-designed and taught one of the first MIT courses on Generative AI, developed to equip students with the essential knowledge and skills to navigate the frontiers of this emerging field. I also co-organized the first workshop on virtual AI humans, attended by over 1,600 participants remotely and more than 200 in person in 2021.

I served as co-creator and writer of the Netflix sci-fi anthology series Tomorrow and I, which premiered in 2024.

Bio updated July 5, 2026.

• 2026 – Psychology of Technology Dissertation Award
• 2026 – Google.org Research Award (Open Benchmark of AI Impact on Humans)
• 2025 – ACM SIGCHI, CHI 2025 Best Paper
• 2025 – ACM SIGCHI, CHI 2025 Honorable Mention Paper
• 2025 – AI Creative Future Grand Prix Winner (Cyber Subin)
• 2025 – World Changing Ideas 2025 (Future You)
• 2024 – OpenAI grant for Human-AI Interaction Research
• 2024 – Featured in I Am a Scientist, a collection of educational resources designed to inspire the next generation of STEM leaders
• 2024 – MIT Open Data Prize – Honorable Mention (Open Dance Lab)
• 2023 – TIME: The Best Inventions of 2023 (MicroPET)
• 2023 – One of the top 10 Fast Company 2023 World Changing Ideas (MicroPET)
• 2022 – KBTG Fellowship
• 2022 – NASA/SETI/DOE Frontier Development Lab (Heroic Comeback Award)
• 2022 – ISS National Lab Sustainability Challenge (Top 3 finalist) – Space Exploration Initiative (MicroPET)
• 2021 – J-WEL Grants in pK-12 Education Innovation (AI-Generated Characters for Improving Engagement and Learning Outcomes in Online Teaching)
• 2021 – NTT Data – MIT Media Lab Grant on Living Memory & AI-generated Characters
• 2020 – ACM Augmented Humans Best Paper
• 2020 – United Nations AI for Good Lecture (Invited Guest Speaker)
• 2020 – Microsoft Design Expo (Invited Guest) – MIT Media Lab Fluid Interfaces (iNonymize)
• 2020 – MIT-NASA TRISH Grant Phase II (Recipient) – Space Exploration Initiative + MIT Media Lab Fluid Interfaces (Wearable Lab on Body)
• 2020 – NASA HERO (Finalist) – MIT AeroAstro + MIT Media Lab Fluid Interfaces (Wear-MD)
• 2019 – MIT Council for the Arts Grant (Recipient) – MIT Media Lab Fluid Interfaces (Machinoia)
• 2019 – NASA NIAC Grant (Finalist) – Space Exploration Initiative + MIT Media Lab Fluid Interfaces (Wearable Biofab)
• 2019 – MIT-NASA TRISH Grant (Recipient) – Space Exploration Initiative + MIT Media Lab Fluid Interfaces (Wearable Lab on Body)
• 2019 – MIT Connect Arts, Community, and Computing Challenge Winner
• 2019 – MIT Media Lab Element Fellowship
• 2018 – Core77 Design Awards – Notable Design Concept Award (Hormone Couture)
• 2018 – 3D Pioneers Challenge – Finalist (Hormone Couture)

For the most recent work, see my Google Scholar profile.

• AI-generated characters for supporting personalized learning and well-being
  Pataranutaporn, P., Danry, V., Leong, J., Punpongsanon, P., Novy, D., Maes, P., & Sra, M. Nature Machine Intelligence, 3(12), 1013–1022 (2021).

• How AI and Human Behaviors Shape Psychosocial Effects of Chatbot Use: A Longitudinal Randomized Controlled Study
  Fang, C. M., Liu, A. R., Danry, V., Lee, E., Chan, S. W. T., Pataranutaporn, P., Maes, P., et al. arXiv:2503.17473 (2025).

• Influencing Human–AI Interaction by Priming Beliefs about AI Can Increase Perceived Trustworthiness, Empathy and Effectiveness
  Pataranutaporn, P., Liu, R., Finn, E., & Maes, P. Nature Machine Intelligence, 5(10), 1076–1086 (2023).

• Don’t Just Tell Me, Ask Me: AI Systems that Intelligently Frame Explanations as Questions Improve Human Logical Discernment Accuracy over Causal AI Explanations
  Danry, V., Pataranutaporn, P., Mao, Y., & Maes, P. Proceedings of the CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (2023).

• Kids Making AI: Integrating Machine Learning, Gamification, and Social Context in STEM Education
  Sakulkueakulsuk, B., Witoon, S., Ngarmkajornwiwat, P., Pataranutaporn, P., et al. IEEE International Conference on Teaching, Assessment, and Learning for Engineering (2018).

• Investigating Affective Use and Emotional Well-being on ChatGPT
  Phang, J., Lampe, M., Ahmad, L., Agarwal, S., Fang, C. M., Liu, A. R., Danry, V., et al. arXiv:2504.03888 (2025).

• People Overtrust AI-generated Medical Advice Despite Low Accuracy
  Shekar, S., Pataranutaporn, P., Sarabu, C., Cecchi, G. A., & Maes, P. NEJM AI, 2(6), AIoa2300015 (2025).

• Deceptive Explanations by Large Language Models Lead People to Change Their Beliefs About Misinformation More Often than Honest Explanations
  Danry, V., Pataranutaporn, P., Groh, M., & Epstein, Z. Proceedings of the CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (2025).

• Future You: A Conversation with an AI-Generated Future Self Reduces Anxiety, Negative Emotions, and Increases Future Self-Continuity
  Pataranutaporn, P., Winson, K., Yin, P., Lapapirojn, A., Ouppaphan, P., et al. IEEE Frontiers in Education Conference, 1–10 (2024).

• Synthetic Human Memories: AI-Edited Images and Videos Can Implant False Memories and Distort Recollection
  Pataranutaporn, P., Archiwaranguprok, C., Chan, S. W. T., Loftus, E., & Maes, P. Proceedings of the CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (2025).

• 2024 – MIT Technology Review: We need to prepare for ‘addictive intelligence’ by Robert Mahari and Pat Pataranutaporn
• 2024 – The Wall Street Journal: A 14-Year-Old Boy Killed Himself to Get Closer to a Chatbot. He Thought They Were In Love by Sherry Turkle and Pat Pataranutaporn

• Science News: Struggling with a hard life choice? AI future selves have tips (July 25, 2026)
• MIT News: Neural transparency and the future of AI design (July 15, 2026)
• MIT Spectrum: Rather than Simply Making Machines Smarter, Media Lab Researchers Seek to Empower People (July 7, 2026)
• UCLA Anderson Review: As AI Advances, Tools to Connect to Your Future Self Grow More Vivid and Useful (January 28, 2026)
• Scientific American: Video evidence and eyewitness accounts: Why people see different things (January 26, 2026)
• The Aspen Ideas to Go Podcast: Can AI make you better?
• The Atlantic: ‘AI Psychosis’ Is a Medical Mystery (December 4, 2025)
• The New York Times: What OpenAI Did When ChatGPT Users Lost Touch With Reality (November 23, 2025)
• Scientific American: Can Digital Ghosts Help Us Heal? (November 18, 2025)
• The New York Times: They Fell in Love With A.I. Chatbots — and Found Something Real (November 5, 2025)
• The Economist: A new industry of AI companions is emerging (November 6, 2025)
• The Guardian: ‘I’m suddenly so angry!’ My strange, unnerving week with an AI ‘friend’ (October 22, 2025)
• MIT Technology Review: It’s surprisingly easy to stumble into a relationship with an AI chatbot (September 24, 2025)
• The Serious Moonlight: The MIT AI Scientist Turned Netflix Sci-Fi Creator (August 15, 2025)
• WIRED: Researchers propose a benchmark that measures a model’s emotional and social impact (August 14, 2025)
• The 420: MIT Study Warns AI Can Implant False Memories (August 10, 2025)
• Bloomberg: AI Doesn’t Just Lie, It Can Make You Believe It (August 9, 2025)
• MIT Technology Review: AI companies have stopped warning you that their chatbots aren’t doctors (July 21, 2025)
• StateScoop: Citing risk to kids, California bill targets controversial AI ‘companion’ chatbots (July 8, 2025)
• TIME: The Dead Have Never Been This Talkative: The Rise of AI Resurrection (June 27, 2025)
• The New York Times: They Asked an A.I. Chatbot Questions. The Answers Sent Them Spiraling (June 13, 2025)
• UNDP Human Development Report 2025: People and possibilities in the age of AI (May 6, 2025)
• Nature: Supportive? Addictive? Abusive? How AI companions affect our mental health (May 6, 2025)
• The New York Times: Say Goodbye to Your Kid’s Imaginary Friend (April 16, 2025)
• Forbes: MIT Media Lab To Put Human Flourishing At The Heart Of AI R&D (April 14, 2025)
• Forbes: The Human Cost Of Talking To Machines: Can A Chatbot Really Care? (April 10, 2025)
• Bloomberg: OpenAI Study Finds Links Between ChatGPT Use and Loneliness (March 21, 2025)
• The Guardian: Heavy ChatGPT users tend to be more lonely, suggests research (March 25, 2025)
• The Independent: I spoke to an AI version of my future self – and it might have changed my life (February 16, 2025)
• University of Cambridge CFI: AI Companions for Health and Mental Wellbeing (February 13, 2025)
• MIT Technology Review: An AI chatbot told a user how to kill himself—but the company doesn’t want to “censor” it (February 6, 2025)
• The Wall Street Journal: AI Has Shown Me My Future. Here’s What I’ve Learned (February 1, 2025)
• The Washington Post: What connecting to your future self can mean to your present (January 5, 2025)
• The Atlantic: Me, My Future, and I (January 2, 2025)
• MIT News: Top research stories of 2024 (December 24, 2024)
• Live Science: ‘Future You’ AI lets you speak to a 60-year-old version of yourself (October 11, 2024)
• Forbes: Time Traveling Via Generative AI By Interacting With Your Future Self (October 8, 2024)
• Popular Science: I spoke to a 60-year-old AI version of myself (October 3, 2024)
• What’s on Netflix: Tomorrow and I: Geeked Week Reveals First Look
• New Scientist: AI tweaks to photos and videos can alter our memories (September 26, 2024)
• Fast Company: Here’s what happens when humans and AI dance together (September 24, 2024)
• Computer Weekly: Will autonomous weapons make humans passive participants in war? (September 16, 2024)
• The Future of You Podcast: Meet Your Future Self #33 (September 6, 2024)
• The Atlantic: A New Tool to Warp Reality (August 30, 2024)
• Forbes: Dancing With AI In The Digital Age (August 27, 2024)
• ABC Listen: What would you ask your future self? (August 16, 2024)
• MIT Technology Review: Here’s how people are actually using AI (August 12, 2024)
• The Guardian: AI researchers build ‘future self’ chatbot to inspire wise life choices (June 5, 2024)
• ArtReview: The Domestic Horror of Kawita Vatanajyankur (June 20, 2024)
• TechXplore: Future-self chatbot gives users a glimpse of the life ahead of them (June 5, 2024)
• BBC World Business Report: AI chatbot that mirrors the “future you” (June 5, 2024)
• BBC World: Advice from your future self (June 5, 2024)
• Scientific American: How New Science Fiction Could Help Us Improve AI (May 16, 2024)
• The Happiness Lab: Does the You of Today Hate the You of Tomorrow?
• Forbes: Rethinking How AI And Humans Interact To Get The Best Of Both (May 8, 2024)
• Scientific American: The Assumptions You Bring into Conversation with an AI Bot Influence What It Says (October 2, 2023)
• Futurism: AI Chatbots Are Only Useful If You Think They Are, Scientists Find (July 19, 2023)
• Forbes: What If The Cyborg Is You? (October 25, 2023)
• Axios: Placebo effect shapes how we see AI (October 6, 2023)
• Forbes: MIT Media Lab Fluid Interfaces—Top Research Powering Humans (June 22, 2022)
• Mashable: Why are we sending a plastic-eating enzyme to space? (January 26, 2023)
• Fast Company: This company is sending plastic-eating enzymes into space (November 21, 2022)
• Interesting Engineering: Study shows we can be convinced an AI chatbot is trustworthy (October 2, 2023)
• TechXplore: Study shows users can be primed about an AI chatbot’s motives (October 2, 2023)
• Psychology Today: Horse Sense About AI (October 11, 2023)
• TIME: Breaking Down Plastics (October 24, 2023)
• Prestige: Pat Pataranutaporn on Exploring the Intersection of Humans and Artificial Intelligence (September 16, 2023)
• MIT Technology Review: A chatbot that asks questions could help you spot when it makes no sense (April 28, 2023)
• MIT News: Characters for good, created by artificial intelligence (December 16, 2021)
• MIT News: Is AI in the eye of the beholder? (October 2, 2023)
• MIT News: Life in space: Preparing for an increasingly tangible reality (July 28, 2021)
• The Guardian: Biomimicry: using nature’s designs to transform agriculture (October 30, 2015)
• Art4D: Pat Pataranutaporn: Doraemon, Terminator, and AI (October 27, 2023)
• Art4D: AI IS RISING. HOW DO ARTISTS SURVIVE? (September 8, 2023)
• Techsauce: Beyond the Elephant in the Room: MIT Media Lab Southeast Asia Forum 2022 (December 23, 2022)
• Techsauce: Unlocking the Future: MIT Media Lab Southeast Asia Forum 2022 (January 5, 2023)
• Fast Company: Nature-inspired designs to make our food systems more sustainable (October 13, 2015)

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