Publications, reports and talks
Academic and theory-based
McStay, A. (2024) The hidden influence: exploring presence in human-synthetic interactions through ghostbots. Ethics and Information Technology.
Bakir, V., Laffer, A., McStay, A., Miranda, D., & Urquhart, L. (2024). On manipulation by emotional AI: UK adults’ views and governance implications. Frontiers in Sociology, 9.
McStay, A. (2023) The Metaverse: Andrew McStay’s Responses to Cody Turner. Philosophy & Technology.
Bakir, V., Laffer, A. & McStay, A. (2023) Blurring the moral limits of data markets: biometrics, emotion and data dividends. AI & Society.
Bakir, V., Laffer, A. and McStay, A. (2023) Human-First, Please: Assessing Citizen Views and Industrial Ambition for Emotional AI in Recommender Systems. Surveillance and Society.
McStay, A. (2023) The Metaverse: Surveillant Physics, Virtual Realist Governance, and The Missing Commons. Philosophy & Technology.
Bakir, V. and McStay, A. (2022). Optimising Emotions, Incubating Falsehoods: How to Protect the Global Civic Body from Disinformation and Misinformation. Palgrave Macmillan, Springer.
McStay, A. & Bakir, V. (2023) "Automating empathy: overview, technologies, criticism" in Handbook of Critical Studies of Artificial Intelligence.
McStay, A. (2022) Replika in the Metaverse: the moral problem with empathy in ‘It from Bit’. AI and Ethics.
McStay, A. (2022) Automated Empathy in Education. In L. Livingstone and K. Pothong (Eds) Education Data Futures: Critical Regulatory and Policy Futures. 5RightsFoundation. Online.
URQUHART, L., Laffer, A. and MIRANDA, D. (2022) Working with Affective Computing: Exploring UK Public Perceptions of AI enabled Workplace Surveillance. ETHICOMP 2022 PROCEEDINGS. PP.165-177.
Bakir, V., Ghotbi, N., Ho, T.M,. Laffer, A., Mantello, P., McStay, A., Miranda, D., Miyashita, H., Podoletz, L., Tanaka, H., Urquhart, L. (2022) ‘Emotional AI in Cities Cross-cultural Lessons from the UK and Japan on Designing for an Ethical Life’. In Carta, S. (Ed.) Machine Learning and the City: Applications in Architecture and Urban Design. Wiley.
McStay, A. & Urquhart, L. (2022) In Cars (Are We Really n Cars (Are We Really Safest of All?): Interior Sensing and Emotional Opacity, International Review of Law, Computers & Technology.
Ho, MT., Mantello, P., Nguyen, HK.T. et al. (2021) Affective computing scholarship and the rise of China: a view from 25 years of bibliometric data. Humanit Soc Sci Commun 8, 282.
Mantello, P., Manh Ho, T., Minh‑Hoang, N. & Quan‑Hoang, V. (2021) Bosses without a heart: socio‑demographic and cross‑cultural determinants of attitude toward Emotional AI in the workplace. AI and Society.
Urquhart, L. & Miranda, S. (2021) Policing faces: the present and future of intelligent facial surveillance, Information & Communications Technology Law.
McStay, A. (2021) Emotional AI, ethics, and Japanese spice: contributing community, wholeness, sincerity, and heart, Philosophy & Technology.
Rosner, G. & Bakir, V. (2021). Governing Philosophies in Technology Policy: Permissionless Innovation vs. The Precautionary Principle. Working Paper, July. Funded by EPSRC Human-Data Interaction network.
Bakir, V. & McStay, A. (2021) Emotional AI and Empathic Technologies: Implications of an Ontology of Mediated Emotion. Data Justice Conference. Cardiff University, May 2021 [Conference video paper]
McStay, A. & Rosner, G. (2021) Emotional Artificial Intelligence in Children’s Toys and Devices: Ethics, Governance and Practical Remedies, Big Data & Society.
Ghobti, N., Mantello, P. & Manh Ho, T. (2021) Attitude of College Students towards ethical uses if artificial intelligence in an international university in Japan, AI and Society. Here.
McStay, A. & Rosner, G. (2020) “Emotoys”: Ethics, Emotions and Empathic Technologies, In A. Malinowska (Ed) Data Dating. Bristol: Intellect.
Bakir, V. 2020. Psychological Operations in Digital Political Campaigns: Assessing Cambridge Analytica’s Psychographic Profiling and Targeting. Frontiers in Political Communication. 5(67). https://doi.org/10.3389/fcomm.2020.00067
Bakir, V. & A.McStay. (2020) Empathic Media, Emotional AI and the Optimization of Disinformation. In M. Boler and E. Davis (eds.) Affective Politics of Digital Media: Propaganda by Other Means. New York: Routledge. (Book description)
mcstay, A. (2020) Emotional AI, Soft Biometrics and the Surveillance of Emotional life: An Unusual Consensus on Privacy, Big Data & Society. 1–12. Click here.
mcstay, A. (2020) Emotional AI: A societal challenge (a short vision paper), Kenniscentrum Data & Maatschappij. click HERE.
Bakir, V. (2020) 'Against opacity in digital political campaigns'. ENNISCENTRUM DATA & MAATSCHAPPIJ. CLICK HERE.
McStay, A. (2019) Emotional AI and EdTech: serving the public good? Learning, Media and Technology. pre-print here and formatted article here.
McStay, A. and Urquhart, L. (2019) ‘This time with feeling?’ Assessing EU data governance implications of out of home appraisal based emotional AI. First Monday. Click Here.
McStay, A. (2018) Emotional AI: The Rise of Empathic Media. London: Sage. click here for sample chapter.
McStay, A. (2017) An Ethical Intervention into Conscious Cities, Conscious Cities. Click here.
Bakir, V. and McStay, A. (2017) Fake News and the Economy of Emotions: Problems, Causes, Solutions, Digital Journalism. Click here.
McStay, A. (2017) Privacy and the Media. London: Sage. (See chapter 10 Empathic media: towards ubiquitous emotional intelligence).
McStay, A. (2017) “Micro-moments, Liquidity, Intimacy and Automation: Developments in Programmatic Ad-Tech”. In G. Siegert and M.B. von Rimscha (Eds) Commercial communication in the digital age – information or disinformation? Berlin: De Gruyter. Click here.
McStay, A. (2017) "The Mood of Information in an Age of Empathic Media". In J.F. Hamilton, R. Bodle and E. Korin (eds) Explorations in Critical Studies of Advertising, p. 235-247. New York: Routledge. Click here.
McStay, A. (2016) Empathic media and advertising: Industry, policy, legal and citizen perspectives (the case for intimacy), Big Data & Society, (pre-publication): 1-11. Click here.
McStay, A. (2016) Digital Advertising (2nd ed). London: Palgrave-Macmillan. (See Chapter 11 on 'Emotiveillance')
McStay, A. (2014) Privacy and Philosophy: New Media and Affective Protocol. New York: Peter Lang. (See chapter 7 on heidegger, moods and empathic media)
Ethical checklist
McStay, A. and Pavliscak, P. (2019) Emotional Artificial Intelligence: Guidelines For Ethical Use.
UN, parliament and government reports/submissions
McStay, A. & Rosner, G. (2022) Welsh Government Digital Ethics Report Applying digital ethics to government and public services. (English / Yn Gymraeg).
Bakir, V. and McStay, A. (2022) Addressing false information online via provision of authoritative information: Why dialling down emotion is part of the answer, Invited Submission to UK Parliament, Digital, Culture, Media & Sport Committee, Online Harms and Disinformation Sub-Committee Inquiry into Misinformation and Trusted Voices.
mcstay, A. & urquhart, l. (2022) UK ICO Technology and Innovation Foresight INVITED REQUEST FOR for views (Biometrics and emotional AI).
mcstay, A., Rosner, G., miyashita, H. and urquhart, l. (2020) Comment on Children’s Rights In Relation To Emotional AI And The Digital Environment for UN Committee on the Rights of the Child.
Bakir, V. and McStay, A. (2020) Inquiry into the Impact of Social Media on Elections & Electoral Administration, INVITED submission to the Electoral Matters Committee, Parliament of Victoria, Australia.
McStay, A. and Rosner, G. (2020) Emotional AI and children: ethics, parents, governance (2020 Report).
bakir, V., McStay, A. and URQUhart, L. (2020) EMOTION RECOGNITION: TRENDS, SOCIAL FEELING, POLICY (Extended Briefing paper here and short Briefing note here) (For UK All Party Parliamentary Group on Artificial Intelligence)
Bakir, V. and McStay, A. (2020). Profiling & Targeting Emotions in Digital Political Campaigns. Briefing Paper for All Party Parliamentary Group on Electoral Campaigning Transparency.
Bakir, V. and McStay, A. (2019) Datafied Bearbaiting and Emotional AI: Anticipating the Quantified Jeremy Kyle Show (For Department of Culture Media and Sport parliamentary inquiry into fake news)
McStay. A. and Minty, D. (2019) Emotional AI and Insurance: Online Targeting and Bias in Algorithmic Decision Making, For centre of Data Ethics and Innovation.
Bakir, V. and McStay, A. (2019) CULTURE CHANGE Incentivise political campaigners to run civil and informative election campaigns Written submission to APPG on Electoral Campaigning Transparency.
Mcstay, A. (2018) Report on The Right To Privacy In The Age Of Emotional AI (for The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights)
McStay, A. (2017) AND THEN THERE’S EMOTIONAL AI… (For the house of lords Select Committee on Artificial Intelligence)
McStay, A. (2017) Empathic Media: The Rise of EmotionAL AI (June 2017)
bakir, V. and McStay, A. (2017) Summary And Analysis Of All Written Submissions On How To Combat Fake News (Up To April 2017) (For Department of Culture Media and Sport parliamentary inquiry into fake news)
Bakir, V. and McStay, A. (2017) Fake News: Media Economics and Emotional Button-Pushing (For Department of Culture Media and Sport parliamentary inquiry into fake news)
McStay, A. (2015) Changing nature of influence: emotional analytics, automation and advertising (For UK Government Office for Science)
Other bits and pieces
McStay, A. (2024) Can AI Read Emotions (special guest), BBC, Artificial Human.
McStay, A interview (2024) Are you 80% angry and 2% sad? Why ‘emotional AI’ is fraught with problems, The Guardian.
McStay, A. video, Guest Lecture for IEEE on "Automating Empathy in Human-AI Partnerships: Issues, Ethics and Governance"
McStay, A interview (2024) A tour of “emotionally intelligent” AI, MPR Marketplace
MCSTAY, A INTERVIEW (2022) The Intercept. Documents Reveal Advanced Ai Tools Google Is Selling To Israel.
MCSTAY, A INTERVIEW (2022) NBC News. Microsoft is removing emotion recognition features from its facial recognition tech
MCSTAY, A INTERVIEW (2022) Techmonitor. Emotion recognition is mostly ineffective. Why are companies still investing in it?
McStay, A cited (2022) Business am live, Emotional AI and the privacy implications
MCSTAY, A INTERVIEW/project profile (2021) Vodafone news, Should you let your children play with emotionally-intelligent toys?
MCSTAY, A INTERVIEW (2021) Washington post, China’s lonely hearts reboot online romance with artificial intelligence
McStay, A interview (2021) Financial Times, Emotion recognition: can AI detect human feelings from a face?
McStay, A. (2021) hello Automated Empathy, Technology and Society: the IEEE Society on Social Implications of Technology.
GLOBE AND MAIL (2021) NuraLogix’s work on public surveillance tools raises concerns about cooperating with firms tied to Chinese government (interview input from McStay)
The Telegraph (2021) How HR departments impose tech tyranny in the woke workplace (interview input from McStay and the Lab)
UNICEf (2020) Policy guidance on AI for children (input frOm mcstay on Emotional AI)
Centre for data ethics and innovation (2020) Snapshot Series: Facial Recognition Technology (interview input frOm mcstay)
Svenska Dagbladet (2020) The machines are increasingly wondering how you feel, by victor galaz (an essay on mcstay’s book ‘emotional Ai’.
Big Data Value (an EU policy/industry group) (2020) Turn That Frown Upside Down – Emotional Ai And Regulation. (mcstay and emotional AI subject of interview).
McStay interview and emotional AI topic for Big Data Value (an EU policy/industry group in the Hague)
I News (2020) Clearview AI: why the controversial facial recognition technology should be a concern for the UK, according to experts (Quotes from mcstay)
novara (2020) AI Border Guards are Being Tested at the Edge of Fortress Europe, Away From Public Scrutiny (extended interview input frOm mcstay)
bakir, v. and mcstay, a. (2019) Reality TV, Emotional AI and Governance of Digital Futures, Universities policy engagement network
The Guardian (2019) AI can read your emotions. Should it? (extended interview input frOm mcstay)
MIT Tech Review (2019) AI could be your wingman—er, wingbot—on your next first date (extended interview input frOm mcstay)
Re.work (2018) privacy and security in AI (Introduction and input from mcstay on ethics, bias and data about emotions)
SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN (2018) Alexa, What Are Doing with My Family's Personal Info? (extended interview input frOm mcstay)
RE.Work (2018) The Ethical Implications of AI (Input from mcstay on ethics, bias and data about emotions)
Taylor, S.T. (Lead editor) (2018) Opinion Forming in the Digital Age: Fake News, Echo Chambers and Populism - Key Themes, Concerns & Recommendations for European Research and Innovation (MCStay part of expert panel and delphi-based PUBLICATION)
McStay, A. (2017) Tech firms want to detect your emotions and expressions, but people don’t like it (LSE policy blog)
Rosner, G. (Director of Internet of Things Privacy Forum (2017) The IoT Privacy Threat Landscape, National Institute of Standards and Technology (USA). Video discussion of McStay and emotional AI.
McStay, A. (2017) Wearables-at-work: Quantifying the emotional self (Privacy Laws & Business).
Bakir, V & McStay, A (2017) Was it ‘AI wot won it’? Hyper-targeting and profiling emotions online. Political Studies Association.
Bakir, V. and McStay, A. (2017) Combatting fake news: analysis of submissions to the fake news inquiry. MeCCSA Three-D Issue 28
McStay, A. (2016) THE DO’S AND DON’T OF EMOTION CAPTURE:
AN OVERVIEW OF EXPERT DISCUSSION AND SUGGESTIONS FROM Digital Catapult WORKSHOP.
McStay, A. (2016) What's in a Smile? Research World/ESOMAR.
McStay, A. (2015) Empathic Media: Advertising that Tracks Your Mood (WPP/Sparksheet)
Talks
McStay, A. (2024) Soft Law Standards for Technologies that Gauge Intimate Life, Infosys and British High Commission, Bengaluru.
McStay, A. (2024) When is Deception OK? Ethical Considerations of Emulated Empathy in AI (IEEE P7014.1). ISTAS, IEEE.
McStay, A. (2024) Automating Empathy in Human-AI Partnerships: Issues, Ethics and Governance, IEEE Global lecture.
McStay, A. (2024) BBC AI/Machine Learning community on AI companions and empathy.
McStay, A. (2024) Automating Empathy, Establishing Standards and Good Governance, FENS-Chen Neuroscience Summer School, University of Lausanne.
McStay, A. (2024) Automating Empathy: Developing Cross-Cultural Soft Law Standards for Artificial Partners based on Foundational AI, China University of Politics and Law, Beijing.MCSTAY, A. (2023) Replika in the Metaverse. QUB/MMU/DCMS.
McStay, A. (2022) AI Ethics and Emotion Recognition. Serbian National Internet Domain Name Registry Foundation (DIDS 2022 CONFERENCE).
McStay, A. (2022) Intelligent Machines, Emotions and Our Planet, Swedish Royal Academy of Sciences.
McStay, A. (2021) Emotional Artificial Intelligence and Regulation of Content Recommendation Systems, Digital Society Lab. Belgrade.
McStay, A. (2021) Gauging civic feeling of emotion recognition: ethics, policy, and citizen opinion, UCLIC, University College London.
McStay, A. (2021) Automating Empathy: Trajectory, Implications and Citizen Views, University of Edinburgh.
McStay, A. (2021) Automating Empathy: Social Impact, Mediated Emotion and Subjectivity, IEEE SSIT Special lecture.
McStay, A. (2021) Mediated Empathy and Creativity, Falmouth University, UK.
McStay, A. (2020) Emotional AI: a Q&A, IULM University of Milan, Italy.
bakir, V. (2020) COVID-19: How can we communicate risk in a post-truth world? Department of Philosophy, Unesp/Brazil. Online.
urquhart, L. (2020) Emotion and FACIAL RECOGNITION, OPEN RIGHTS GROUP. ONLINE.
McStay, A. (2020) Emotional AI and Ethics, Co-speaker ben Bland (IEEE/Sensum), chair Pam pavliscak, School of information, Pratt Institute, New York.
McStay, A. (2020) Feeling-into Everyday Life: Empathic Technologies and Ontology, Russian Academy of Sciences and URAL University, Moscow.
McStay, A. (2020) Empathic Technologies: Landscape, Ethics, Citizens. Emotion AI Conference, New York
bakir, V. and McStay, A. (2020) Empathic Technologies: Mediated emotion during COVID-19 (and after), A Global Digital Publics Network (GDPN) event in collaboration with the Emotional AI Lab, the network for Media & Persuasive Communication, Alfred Deakin Institute for Citizenship and Globalization and the Fame and Persona Research Consortium.
bakir, V. and McStay, A. (2020) Regulating Disinformation in Context of Modulated Emotion, Sussex Centre for Information Governance Research.
McStay, A. and Pamela Pavliscak (2020) A Principled Approach to the Emotion Economy, SxSW, Austin, USA.
McStay, A. (2020) emotional AI and empathic technologies: RIGHTS, CHILDREN AND DOMESTICATION [PANEL ORGANISER/MODERATOR) CPDP, BRUSSELS, BELGIUM.
McStay, A. (2019) The Rise of Empathic Technologies, EURA Center of Excellence Regulation of Robotics and Artificial Intelligence, Pisa, Italy.
McStay, A. (2019) Ethics fatigue? Emotional AI, citizen perspectives & implications for MarTech (2019) International Conference on Affective Computing & Intelligent Interaction (ACII 2019)( Social & Emotion AI for Industry), UNIVERSITY of Cambridge, UK.
McStay, A. (2019) emotional AI, ethics and workplace automation, CIPD: FESTIVAL of Work, Haymarket Media, London.
McStay, A. (2019) Challenges of the (Post)Digital Age (Izazovi (Post)digitalnog doba), Belgrade, Serbia.
McStay, A. (2019) Spilling into the city: ai and advertising (2019/forthcoming) goldsmiths, university of london.
McStay, A. (2019) Emotiveillance: Smart Advertising, Retail and the Privacy Problem, Liverpool Screen School, LJMU.
McStay, A. (2018) Intimacy in the age of ARTIFICIAL intelligence, Grounded festival, Ljubljana, Slovenia.
McStay, A. (2018) Intimacy and the Civic Body: Emotional AI and the City, Information Law and Policy Centre, London.
McStay, A. (2018) Emotional AI: Nature, Form, Ethics, Governance, School of information, Pratt Institute, New York.
McStay, A. (2018) Symposium/Roundtable on ‘AI and Creative Practice’, Bond University, Queensland, Australia.
McStay, A. (2018) Emotional AI and urbanism (2018) tickbirdandrhino, Stockwool architecture, london.
McStay, A. (2018) All Smiles? Emotional AI, Voice-First, Ethics, Citizens and Ubiquitous Feeling-Into (2018) #ReworkAI, San Francisco.
McStay, A. (2018) Understanding the Significance of Emotional AI and Empathic Media, New Lines of (In)Sight, CRISP, University of Stirling.
bakir, V. and McStay, A. (2017) Fake news, advertising and emotion profiling, Houses of Westminster, London.
McStay, A. (2017) Empathic Media: The Case of Advertising, CPDP, Brussels.
McStay, A. (2016) Empathic Media and Gaming, MediaX, Stanford University, US.
McStay, A. (2016) Empathic Media: From Questions of Privacy to Intimacy, ICA, Fukuoka, Japan.
McStay, A. (2016) Researching Empathic Media: Corporate Access, Methods and Ethics, Researching Hidden Power conference, University of Sheffield.
McStay, A. (2016) Empathic Media and Advertising,, LCC conference on Future of Advertising, University of the Arts London.
McStay, A. (2016) Empathic Media: At Work, Society for Computers and Law, London, 11KB.
McStay, A. Empathic Media and Consent (2016) Digital Catapult, London.
bakir and McStay (2016) Veillant Media: ‘Veillant Panoptic Assemblage and Emotiveillance, Department of Computer Engineering, University of Toronto.
McStay, A. (2015) What of Consent in an Age of Empathic Media, Meaningful Consent workshop, University of Southampton.
McStay, A. (2015) Empathic media and Cultural Mediations of Transparency, DATAPSST!, ESRC Seminar. Kings College London.
McStay, A. (2014) Towards an Understanding of Emotional Analytics, Marketing Communications Society, University of Greenwich, London.
mcstaY, A. (2014) Exploring the Pharmacology of Empathic Media, Centre for the Study of Science and Imagination, University of Westminster, London.
mcstaY, A. (2014) Toward Empathic Media: Key questions on Privacy, Surveillance & Governance, ESRC funded workshop on Privacy, Surveillance and Governance in the Digital Society, University of Sheffield.
Audio
ABC Australia (2021) Future Tense, The positive side of monitoring.
Critical Technology podcast (2022) Kids and Emotional AI.
The Machine Ethics Podcast (2022) Emotion detection with Andrew McStay
CityScape podcast (2020) McStay interview on the ethical implications of the deployment of emotional AI in smart cities
Interviews/documentary (television and press)
Television
MCSTAY, A. 2019, Kulturni dnevnik (TV RTS, Serbia), video
MCSTAY, A. 2019, Studio City, RTV Slovenija, Video
MCSTAY, A. 2018, Drawing the Line, Sensum, video
