Speaker:

Andreia Sofia Teixeira, Associate Professor, Network Science Institute, Northeastern University London

Title:

Human Relational Ecology and Conversational AI: From Social Actor to Asymmetric Co-Regulation

Abstract:

Human cognition, mental health and relationships unfold within interconnected social systems that change over time. Drawing on work on cognitive-affective structure, the evolution of supportive and conflictual ties in adolescent social networks, and distinct social envirotypes associated with mental health and context-dependent patterns of brain connectivity, I will discuss what these different perspectives tell us about the human relational ecology in which wellbeing is embedded, including the role of co-regulation in shaping emotion, cognition and behaviour.

Understanding this ecology is especially important as conversational AI emerges as a new kind of social actor. These systems can simulate some of the interactional signals associated with co-regulation, including responsiveness, validation, emotional language and apparent empathy, but without reciprocal lived experience, vulnerability, embodiment or shared accountability. I will introduce the concept of asymmetric co-regulation to frame this distinction.

Building on emerging work at the intersection of AI use, social networks and real-world human–AI conversations, I will ask what happens when conversational AI moves beyond instrumental use and starts to occupy more relational roles: when it may scaffold or substitute for existing human capacities and forms of support, how repeated interactions may shape regulation and sense of agency over time, and how these dynamics may become embedded within wider social relationships.

Speaker Bio:

Andreia Sofia Teixeira is an Associate Professor at the Network Science Institute, Northeastern University London, where she leads the BRAN Lab (Behavioral Research and Adaptive Networks). Her research sits at the intersection of network science and machine learning, developing measures, computational models and simulation frameworks to understand the structure and dynamics of complex systems, and how local behaviour can spill over to collective scales. Her work spans human–AI interaction, collective behaviour, cognitive and affective networks, signed and temporal social networks, mental health and neuropsychiatric and neurodegenerative disorders. Across these areas, she is particularly interested in how individual states, relationships and broader social environments shape one another over time.

Location:

In person: Chambers Hall, 600 Foster Street, Lower Level
PLEASE NOTE: Professor Teixeira has requested to be in person only, with no livestream or recording. Please join us in Chambers Hall.

About the Speaker Series:

Wednesdays@NICO is a vibrant weekly seminar series focusing broadly on the topics of complex systems, networks, and artificial intelligence. It brings together attendees ranging from graduate students to senior faculty who span all of the schools across Northwestern, from applied math to sociology to biology and every discipline in-between. Please visit: https://bit.ly/WedatNICO for information on future speakers.

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