Arianna Sica will defend for the degree of philosophiae doctor (PhD) at Østfold University of Applied Sciences, as the first candidate from the PhD programme Digitalisation and Society.
For those who are not able to attend in person, the arrangement will be streamed: https://hiof.zoom.us/j/64612069355?pwd=UFQwH04h15iw5Bwzwp2j1NtSKAdWSI.1
Trial lecture
The trial lecture will be held Tuesday 3 March 2026 at 10:15 in AUD 3, Campus Halden. The topic will be:
The computer as a tool and a partner. An overview of the historical development of chatbots and companion robots. Past, present and future.
Public defence
The public defence will be held Tuesday 3 March 2026 at 12:15 in AUD 3, Campus Halden.
Evaluation Committee
- Professor David Gunkel, Northern Illinois University, Chicago
- Associate Professor Jo Herstad, University of Oslo
- Professor Stine Torp Løkkeberg, Østfold University of Applied Sciences
Professor Stine Torp Løkkeberg has administrated the commitee's work.
Professor David Gunkel and Associate Professor Jo Herstad are appointed opponents for the public defence.
Supervisors
The candidate's main supervisor has been Associate Professor Henrik Skaug Sætra, Ifi, University of Oslo.
The candidate's co-supervisor has been Associate Professor Eduard Fosch-Villaronga, Leiden University.
The thesis can be found here: The ethics of emotionally intelligent social robots
Summary
The ethics of emotionally intelligent social robots
Advances in Artificial Emotional Intelligence (AEI) are enabling the creation of social robots that appear to recognize and respond to human emotions. These developments open new possibilities for companionship, care, and intimacy, but they also raise urgent ethical and social questions. If robots can convincingly simulate empathy and affection, what does this mean for trust, authenticity, and the nature of human relationships? Could such machines provide meaningful support for those who are isolated, or might they foster dependency, manipulation, and the displacement of human connections?
This dissertation investigates these challenges by focusing on social robots designed for companionship and intimacy, including sex and love robots. It examines how AEI blurs boundaries between humans and machines, reshaping how emotions and relationships are experienced and understood. The project is therefore an ethical analysis of AEI in social robots, aimed at clarifying key concepts, analysing core ethical questions, and preparing the ground for responsible evaluation and governance of the technology.
I argue that AEI social robots present four main ethical challenges. First, they raise questions of authenticity and deception. Robots cannot truly feel emotions, yet their design encourages users to believe that they do – what does it mean to form relationships built on such simulation? Second, they problematize trust. Robots may be reliable, but can it ever make sense to extend feelings of trust to a machine, and if so, under which conditions? Third, they blur the boundaries of moral status. If people treat AEI robots as relational partners rather than objects, should our ethical frameworks change in response, and what social and ethical consequences follow? Finally, in the case of sex and love robots, AEI intensifies debates around intimacy and sexuality. Could such robots provide genuine comfort and care, or do they risk deepening dependency and isolation?
Taken together, these challenges suggest that AEI social robots may not simply expand human emotional possibilities, but also fundamentally alter them. Whether this alteration supports or undermines human flourishing remains an open question – one that this dissertation seeks to explore in detail.