Short bio

Dr. Kate Darling is a Research Specialist at the MIT Media Lab and a Fellow at the Harvard Berkman Center. Her interest is in how technology intersects with society. Kate’s work has explored economic issues in intellectual property systems and also looks at the near-term effects of robotic technology, with a particular interest in law, social, and ethical issues. She runs experiments, hold workshops, writes, and lectures on some of the more interesting developments in the world of human-robot interaction, and where we might find ourselves in the coming decades.

Long bio

Dr. Kate Darling is one of the leading experts in the emerging field of Robot Ethics. As a researcher at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Media Lab, she investigates social robotics and conducts experimental studies on human-robot interaction. Darling explores how people perceive robots, seeking to influence technology design and policy direction. Her writing and research anticipate difficult questions that lawmakers, engineers, and the wider public will need to address as human-robot relationships evolve in the coming decades.

Darling’s primary interest is in how technology intersects with society. She’s a Fellow at the Harvard Berkman Center for Internet & Society and the Yale Information Society Project, as well as an Affiliate at the Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies. While much of her recent work has focused on legal, social, and ethical issues in robotics, Darling has also researched economic incentives in copyright and patent systems and has served as an intellectual property expert and advisor at multiple academic and private institutions. She graduated from law school with honors and holds a Doctorate of Sciences in Intellectual Property and Law & Economics from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH Zurich).

Together with with renowned Professor Lawrence Lessig, Darling taught a class entitled “Robot Rights” at Harvard Law School. She was an early figure in the field of law and robotics, pioneering a human-centric, practical approach to protecting robots from abuse. Her work has been featured on the BBC, The Guardian, The Boston Globe, CBC, WIRED, and more. She has authored multiple academic publications and is a contributing writer to Robohub and IEEE Spectrum. She speaks and holds workshops covering some of the more interesting developments in the world of robotics, and where we might find ourselves in the coming decades.

Darling is the caretaker for several domestic robots, including her twin Pleos named Yochai and Peter. She tweets as @grok_ about eating cheerios for dinner.

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