Purposeful Empathy is a Youtube channel dedicated to conversations with people spreading more empathy in the world.
Join Anita Nowak, empathy expert, author, award-winning educator, international speaker and certified coach, to learn how like-spirited people around the world are turning up the volume on empathy through purposeful action.
Drawing from neuroscience, spirituality, leadership studies, positive psychology and the frontlines of social action, Purposeful Empathy explores the intersection of personal development
Will AI Change How Children Communicate, Trust and Connect? Ft. Dr. Ying Xu w/Anita Nowak - Purposeful Empathy
AI is impacting every part of our lives—and we need to start paying more attention.
Listen to this thought-provoking conversation with Dr. Ying Xu, Assistant Professor of AI in Learning and Education at Harvard University, whose groundbreaking research explores how artificial intelligence is shaping children's social development and relationships.
We discuss:
How children of different ages are using AI for personalized tutoring, emotional support and companionship
Why AI's tendency to agree, flatter, and validate children may undermine critical thinking, perspective-taking, and the ability to navigate disagreement
How frictionless interactions with AI could affect children's capacity to develop empathy, patience, and meaningful human relationships
Why parents should become co-learners (and not supervisors) of AI to protect children against potential developmental risks
If you're a parent, educator, or simply concerned about what growing up in the age of AI means for the next generation—you don't want to miss this conversation.
00:00 Preview
01:13 Episode introduction
03:56 About Dr. Ying Xu
06:05 Ying’s Backstory
08:08 Do children think AI is alive?
12:08 Could AI companionship replace human relationships?
15:38 How AI is becoming a playmate, tutor, and emotional confidant for children
20:00 What happens when AI repeatedly tells children they're right?
25:15 Why parents don't need to be AI experts to help their children use it wisely
28:49 What children learn from playing with other kids that AI can't teach them
34:57 Why human connection is the best protection against AI risks
38:45 What we know—and don't know—about AI's long-term effects on children
44:00 Can AI speak a child's language without understanding their culture?
49:16 Why AI-generated writing could threaten creativity in children
53:10 Dr. Ying Xu's Purposeful Empathy story
Episode #15 of Empathy in the Age of AI Part II, a special 25-part series: https://tinyurl.com/exyw2nua (https://tinyurl.com/exyw2nua)
CONNECT WITH YING
✩ LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/ying-x/?isSelfProfile=false (https://www.linkedin.com/in/ying-x/?isSelfProfile=false)✩ Website https://ying-xu.com/ (https://ying-xu.com/)
CONNECT WITH ANITA
✩ Email purposefulempathy@gmail.com
✩ Website https://www.anitanowak.com
✩ Buy a copy of Purposeful Empathy http://tiny.cc/PurposefulEmpathyCA
✩ LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/anitanowak/ (https://www.linkedin.com/in/anitanowak/)
✩ Instagram https://tinyurl.com/anitanowakinstagram
✩ Podcast Audio https://tinyurl.com/PurposefulEmpathyPodcast (https://tinyurl.com/PurposefulEmpathyPodcast)
✩ Bluesky https://bsky.app/profile/anitanowak.bsky.social (https://bsky.app/profile/anitanowak.bsky.social)
SHOW NOTES
✩ Why Education Research Matters: AI and Children https://www.gse.harvard.edu/ideas/news/25/12/why-education-research-matters-ai-and-children (https://www.gse.harvard.edu/ideas/news/25/12/why-education-research-matters-ai-and-children)✩ Children’s communication repairs with AI versus human partners https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1071581926000753 (https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1071581926000753)✩ Promoting parent-child shared reading with a bilingual conversational agent https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1071581925000461 (https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1071581925000461)✩ What makes children perceive or not perceive minds in generative AI? https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2949882125000192 (https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2949882125000192)
Video edited by Jad Misri, Green Horizon Studio
16 Oct 2026
Who Pays the Price of Big Tech’s Algorithmic Management? Ft. Marcus Mihalakis w/Anita Nowak - Purposeful Empathy
AI is impacting every part of our lives—and we need to start paying more attention.
Watch this eye-opening conversation with Marcus Mihalakis, author of Working for Tech Giants, whose firsthand experience as a contract worker for some of the world's biggest AI companies exposes worker exploitation in the digital economy.
We discuss:
How tech giants use algorithmic management, performance metrics, and workplace surveillance to control workers
How global subcontracting practices enable worker exploitation
Why the race to replace human workers with AI will deepen inequality, threaten livelihoods, and undermine human dignity
How we can build a future where AI and humans coexist—and why critical thinking, empathy, and human connection must remain at the centre of technological progress
If you're wondering what price workers are paying in the age of AI—you don't want to miss this conversation.
00:00 Preview
01:24 Episode introduction
04:06 About Marcus Mihalakis
07:31 Marcus’s backstory
09:53 How algorithmic management strips empathy from the workplace
14:18 How worker exploitation is built into the big tech business model
18:48 The psychological toll of relentless performance metrics
23:51 The invisible human workforce behind AI
25:54 Will AI replace human workers?
28:10 Is AI really limited by its programming?
35:16 The limits of AI creativity and the hype surrounding AI
40:01 What will happen when robots replace human labour?
42:50 The environmental costs of AI and massive data centres
49:10 Workers' rights and accountability in the AI economy
53:02 The threat of mass layoffs and the future of work
55:05 Introducing the Digital Workers Charter and Critical Thinking Index
59:29 Why machines will never be able to genuinely empathize
1:04:21 Marcus Mihalakis's Purposeful Empathy story
Episode #14 of Empathy in the Age of AI part II, a special 25-part series: https://tinyurl.com/exyw2nua (https://tinyurl.com/exyw2nua)
CONNECT WITH MARCUS
✩ LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/marcus-mihalakis (https://www.linkedin.com/in/marcus-mihalakis)
✩ Website https://marcusmihalakis.com (https://marcusmihalakis.com/)
CONNECT WITH ANITA
✩ Email purposefulempathy@gmail.com
✩ Website https://www.anitanowak.com
✩ Buy a copy of Purposeful Empathy http://tiny.cc/PurposefulEmpathyCA
✩ LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/anitanowak/ (https://www.linkedin.com/in/anitanowak/)
✩ Instagram https://tinyurl.com/anitanowakinstagram
✩ Podcast Audio https://tinyurl.com/PurposefulEmpathyPodcast (https://tinyurl.com/PurposefulEmpathyPodcast)
✩ Bluesky https://bsky.app/profile/anitanowak.bsky.social (https://bsky.app/profile/anitanowak.bsky.social)
SHOW NOTES
✩ Working for Tech Giants https://workingfortechgiants.com (https://workingfortechgiants.com/)
✩ The Mass Layoffs from Meta and Microsoft: A Purge of Wisdom https://marcusmihalakis.com/blog/layoffs-meta-microsoft (https://marcusmihalakis.com/blog/layoffs-meta-microsoft)
✩ The Hangzhou Precedent: Why AI Replacement is a Corporate Choice https://marcusmihalakis.com/blog/hangzhou-precedent (https://marcusmihalakis.com/blog/hangzhou-precedent)
✩ The 87% Rule: The Algorithmic Leash of the Digital Company Town https://marcusmihalakis.com/blog/87-percent-rule (https://marcusmihalakis.com/blog/87-percent-rule)
Video edited by Jad Misri, Green Horizon Studio
16 Oct 2026
AI Companions, Grief Bots & the Future of Human Connection Ft. Victoria Hetherington w/Anita Nowak - Purposeful Empathy
AI is impacting every part of our lives—and we need to start paying more attention.
Listen to this fascinating conversation with Victoria Hetherington, author of The Friend Machine, whose work explores the increasingly intimate relationships people are forming with AI companions and chatbots.
We discuss:
Why people are forming emotional and romantic attachments to AI—and why these relationships are becoming normalized
How frictionless AI relationships might change what we expect from human partners, friends, and family
Why people disclose their deepest secrets to chatbots and are increasingly turning to griefbots
Why simulated empathy may feel real—and whether relying on machines to understand us could weaken our own capacity for empathy and human connection
If you’re wondering what happens at scale when AI becomes the companion that listens without judgment and knows users better than anyone else—you don’t want to miss this conversation.
00:00 Preview
00:59 Episode introduction
03:40 About Victoria Hetherington
05:52 Victoria’s backstory
10:28 Victoria’s book, The Friend Machine, and CBC podcast, Understood: Artificial Intimacy
16:10 What happens when an AI companion knows you better than anyone else?
19:45 Why AI relationships are becoming normalized
23:18 Why do people tell AI secrets they won’t tell another human?
26:19 Why loneliness and social isolation are making AI companionship more appealing
28:19 The psychological impacts of AI relationships
33:45 Why people are creating digital versions of their loved ones, aka grief bots
39:27 How AI is forcing us to reconsider what it means to be human
42:33 Why do we treat AI as if it cares about us?
45:00 Is simulated empathy enough to create genuine intimacy?
49:42 Victoria Hetherington’s Purposeful Empathy story
CONNECT WITH VICTORIA
✩ LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/victoriahetherington/ (https://www.linkedin.com/in/victoriahetherington/)
✩ Instagram https://www.instagram.com/vmhetherington/?hl=en (https://www.instagram.com/vmhetherington/?hl=en)
CONNECT WITH ANITA
✩ Email purposefulempathy@gmail.com
✩ Website https://www.anitanowak.com
✩ Buy a copy of Purposeful Empathy http://tiny.cc/PurposefulEmpathyCA
✩ LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/anitanowak/ (https://www.linkedin.com/in/anitanowak/)
✩ Instagram https://tinyurl.com/anitanowakinstagram
✩ Podcast Audio https://tinyurl.com/PurposefulEmpathyPodcast (https://tinyurl.com/PurposefulEmpathyPodcast)
✩ Bluesky https://bsky.app/profile/anitanowak.bsky.social (https://bsky.app/profile/anitanowak.bsky.social)
SHOW NOTES
✩ The Friend Machine: On the Trail of AI Companionship https://tinyurl.com/4etmuxuk (https://tinyurl.com/4etmuxuk)
✩ Understood: Artificial Intimacy https://www.cbc.ca/listen/cbc-podcasts/1353-the-naked-emperor (https://www.cbc.ca/listen/cbc-podcasts/1353-the-naked-emperor)
✩ My "Conversation" with a Machine: Introducing Empathy in the Age of AI - A special 25-part series https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/my-conversation-machine-introducing-empathy-age-ai-anita-nowak-phd-dfplc (https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/my-conversation-machine-introducing-empathy-age-ai-anita-nowak-phd-dfplc)
Video edited by Jad Misri, Green Horizon Studio
Who has been a guest on Purposeful Empathy with Anita Nowak
Names identified in recent episode analyses. Showing up to five guests.
Nichole Fuller
José Jiménez
Jasmine Locke
YooNa Kim
Marquin Parks
Reach and audience
Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.
Apple Podcasts (US)
4.8 / 5
6 ratings
Spotify
5.0 / 5
2 ratings
Podcast Authority Score: 44 / 100
A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.
Quality
59
Social presence
0
YouTube
0
Engagement
76
Contact Purposeful Empathy with Anita Nowak
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