Title: Future of Work: Insights from Social Psychology and Organizational Behavior

Speaker:  Kai Chi (Sam) Yam / Jardine Cycle & Carriage Chair Professor, Business School, National University of Singapore (NUS)

Date:March 5, 2026 (Thursday), 14:00

Venue: 1st Conference Room, Research Center for Humanities and Social Sciences (RCHSS), Academia Sinica

(Online via Webex)
https://reurl.cc/R9lY5r
Meeting ID: 2641 142 9081
password: 0305

Abstract: Today, robots and AI help generate creative content, man hotels, and even make hiring decisions in the workplace. But how humans feel about them remains complicated. In this talk, I will synthesize my past and ongoing work in an attempt to answer one question: Do humans enjoy interacting with robots and AI? The answer is that it depends — not so much on the types of robots or AI in question, but rather on what contexts we interact with them in. We generally prefer new technologies that serve us rather than those that work alongside us and are especially aversive to them in sacred and moral domains, such as religion and medicine. A final study reveals a human-AI interaction paradox: Although machines can commit wrongs and people do punish them, they cannot meaningfully receive punishment—and so justice can never feel complete.

※The lecture will be delivered in English, and Prof. Yam is also happy to take questions in Mandarin Chinese.

Organizer: Center for Survey Research, RCHSS, Academia Sinica

Contact: Ms. Hsieh |