PeopleofSuperintelligence

Researcher

Julie Carpenter

Also known as Julie Gwyn Wajdyk

Julie Carpenter is a social scientist who studies how people form emotional attachments to robots and other forms of AI. Her 2013 University of Washington doctorate examined how U.S. military bomb-disposal teams interact with their field robots, research that led to the 2016 book Culture and Human-Robot Interaction in Militarized Spaces: A War Story. In 2019, she was research advisor to Project Q, a gender-ambiguous voice for technology that won the Glass Lion for Change at Cannes, and she appeared on the 100 Brilliant Women in AI Ethics lists for 2019 and 2020. Her 2025 book The Naked Android introduced the idea of a "human gaze" to explain how people's cultural expectations shape the way they live with robots. She is a senior fellow (external) with the Ethics + Emerging Sciences Group at California Polytechnic State University, which she joined in 2015.

Now at
California Polytechnic State University

Timeline

  1. 1999–2007

    Communication and HCI degrees

    Born Julie Gwyn Wajdyk in Madison, Wisconsin, she earns a B.A. in communication arts, with a focus on film, radio and television theory, at the University of Wisconsin–Madison in 1999. She adds an M.S. in technical communication focused on human-computer interaction at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in 2004 and a second M.S. from the University of Washington's technical communication program, now Human-Centered Design and Engineering, in 2007.

  2. 2006–2009

    Early human-robot interaction papers

    After working in user-centered research and development of web-based medical applications, she turns to an academic career studying emotion and attachment in human-robot interaction. In 2006, she coauthors "Well Done Robot!", an IEEE RO-MAN paper on praise and presence in human-robot collaboration, and in 2009 she publishes on gender representation in domestic humanoid robots in the International Journal of Social Robotics.

  3. 2013

    A doctorate on bomb-disposal robots

    She completes a PhD in learning sciences at the University of Washington in 2013 with the dissertation "The Quiet Professional," on how U.S. military Explosive Ordnance Disposal personnel interact with everyday field robots. For the study, she interviews 23 bomb-disposal personnel, many of whom name their robots and some of whom describe holding a funeral for a destroyed one.

  4. 2015–2016

    A War Story at Routledge

    In 2015, she becomes an external fellow of the Ethics + Emerging Sciences Group at California Polytechnic State University. Routledge publishes her book Culture and Human-Robot Interaction in Militarized Spaces: A War Story in 2016, a study of how bomb-disposal personnel and their robots influence each other, with a focus on operator emotion. She also gives the TEDx talk "Humans + Robots: Dream Machines" in Odense, Denmark, in 2016.

  5. 2017

    A chapter on sex robots

    In 2017, she contributes "Deus Sex Machina: Loving Robot Sex Workers and the Allure of an Insincere Kiss" to the MIT Press volume Robot Sex: Social, Legal and Ethical Implications. The chapter proposes adding a time dimension to Mori's uncanny valley hypothesis to account for how feelings of familiarity with humanoid robots change after repeated exposure.

  6. 2019–2020

    Research advisor for Project Q

    She serves as research advisor to Project Q, a gender-ambiguous voice for technology built by a team including Virtue, Copenhagen Pride and EqualAI, and tells NPR in March 2019 that its goal is to add to a global conversation about gender in technology and ethics. Q wins the Glass Lion for Change and three bronze Lions at Cannes in 2019. She appears on the Lighthouse3 100 Brilliant Women in AI Ethics lists for 2019 and 2020.

  7. 2025

    The Naked Android

    She publishes The Naked Android: Synthetic Socialness and the Human Gaze in 2025. Built on in-depth interviews with people who make, live with or create art about robots, the book introduces the "human gaze" and the "robot gaze" as ways to understand how people live with robots.

  8. 2025–2026

    Senior fellow at Cal Poly

    In November 2025, she joins a Santa Clara University panel on the ethics of autonomous weapons as a social scientist and research consultant. In 2026, she publishes "Human–AI Relationships as Designed Relationality: A Sociotechnical Model" in AI & Society and gives a keynote at Cal Poly's AI Symposium in May 2026. She is a senior fellow (external) with Cal Poly's Ethics + Emerging Sciences Group.

Career

  1. Since 2015California Polytechnic State UniversitySenior Fellow (External)

Education

  1. 2013University of WashingtonPhD in learning sciences
  2. 2007University of WashingtonM.S. in technical communication
  3. 2004Rensselaer Polytechnic InstituteM.S. in technical communication
  4. 1999University of Wisconsin–MadisonB.A. in communication arts

From the biography.

  1. The company share of AI researchers’ top papers was 31% in 2020–2024 and 8% in 1970–1974Includes University of Washington. We estimate where the people shaping AI worked when their most-cited papers appeared: the company share was 31% in 2020–2024 and 8% in 1970–1974, and Google led all organizations in 2020–2024.
  2. The median h-index is 48 at universities and 14 at frontier AI labsIncludes University of Washington. The median h-index is 48 at universities and 14 at frontier AI labs. We compare publishing careers, recent citations, dual appointments and job moves across 2,420 university researchers and 308 frontier-lab researchers.
  3. Of 943 people shaping AI who worked at Google, 446 work there nowIncludes University of Washington. Our estimates of where the 943 people shaping AI who worked at Google and Google DeepMind work now: 446 at Google and 452 across 278 other organizations.
  4. 20% of people at companies who shape AI also hold a university role, led by Google and Stanford UniversityIncludes University of Washington. We estimate that 539 of the 6,766 people with a known current organization (8%) hold both a university role and a company role, including 20% of people at companies and 13% of people at universities.

Sources and credits

Photo: We have no published photo of Julie Carpenter yet. Send us a free-licensed photo.

  1. Julie Carpenter - Wikipedia en.wikipedia.org. Checked 20 October 2026.
  2. Julie Carpenter, Ph.D. — CV jgcarpenter.com. Checked 20 October 2026.
  3. Culture and Human-Robot Interaction in Militarized Spaces: A War Story routledge.com. Checked 20 October 2026.
  4. Emotional attachment to robots could affect outcome on battlefield | UW News washington.edu. Checked 20 October 2026.
  5. Julie Carpenter, Ph.D. — About jgcarpenter.com. Checked 20 October 2026.
  6. A New Genderless Voice Designed For Smart Speakers And Digital Assistants : NPR npr.org. Checked 20 October 2026.
  7. Julie Carpenter, Ph.D. — Project Q jgcarpenter.com. Checked 20 October 2026.
  8. The Naked Android: Synthetic Socialness and the Human Gaze - 1st Edition routledge.com. Checked 20 October 2026.
  9. Ethics in The Age of Autonomous Weapons - Markkula Center for Applied Ethics scu.edu. Checked 20 October 2026.
  10. About: Ethics + Emerging Sciences Group ethics.calpoly.edu. Checked 20 October 2026.