NASA Roboticist on the Emotional Connection Between Humans and Machines

Cheddar News

Ayanna Howard, NASA roboticist and Dean of Engineering at OSU, explains integrating human emotion with AI at World Business Forum

Transcript

00:00Ayanna Howard is the Dean of Engineering at The Ohio State University.

00:04You have to say it the right way, of course.

00:05You do.

00:06She joins us here on the Grounded World Business Forum in New York City.

00:09It is great to have you here today. Thanks for taking the time.

00:11Thanks for having me.

00:12I think the general theme of human emotion-centered robotic design sounds absolutely fascinating.

00:18Can you talk to us more about your current work and current priorities in the space?

00:22Yes, so I truly believe that artificial intelligence robotics,

00:25the reason why it's such a great tool is because it's based here around us humans.

00:31And so when you think about the human as centered to any technology,

00:35it means that you're going to get it right.

00:36In my own work, I look at things such as healthcare robotics, healthcare AI.

00:40How do we engage these data, these elements of medicine

00:45to improve our quality of life through the healthcare space?

00:49I also look at it through the lens of education.

00:51How do we ensure that we can upscale our workforce

00:53so that as the jobs are changing, they are not being replaced necessarily?

00:58I also look at AI to help us in terms of our daily activities of living.

01:04How do you most see AI changing the ways that humans and machines

01:08not just connect, but connect emotionally?

01:10So I truly believe that AI should be seen as our co-worker,

01:15as our partner, as our playmate.

01:17It becomes part of our family, our community.

01:20But in order for that to happen, it has to understand who we are as people,

01:25not just the way we think, but the way we behave, the way we act,

01:28the things that give us joy, but also the things that give us fear and pain.

01:32When AI can learn that and also respond in kind based on our state,

01:37I think that's when we have a great relationship and a great partnership

01:40to do whatever it is that we need to do.

01:42I think even leaving agentic AI, the future of this technology aside,

01:47I think even the current iteration of AI,

01:49it sort of surprises a lot of people with how powerful it is.

01:52But I wonder where we look at AI here in November 2025,

01:55is this version of it a surprise to you?

01:57Has the technology evolved in ways faster than maybe you had expected?

02:01Or is this about what you had anticipated for the tech?

02:04So I will say that AI, agentic AI, the AI world in general,

02:09has evolved at a faster rate than most of us who are practitioners have anticipated.

02:14And it started with the release of Honestly ChatGP2.

02:18It was like, oh, I mean, our research,

02:20I even had two papers by then around that had the large language models

02:25where we were looking at bias.

02:27So to actually see people using it and using it for functions

02:32and then that acceleration of its use in terms of actually having value,

02:37that acceleration was unexpected.

02:39I wonder how your background at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory

02:42before joining The Ohio State University,

02:45how does that inform your current work?

02:48Well, so when I think about my role at NASA's JPL,

02:52it was really focused on how do you imagine a future that doesn't yet exist?

02:57So we were designing future Mars rover missions for the future.

03:01How do you do that?

03:02And so now I think about AI, I think about robotics around

03:06what is the future opportunities for bringing in these tools,

03:10these technologies to integrate with us, integrate in our lives?

03:14And what are the things that we're not saying?

03:16What are the questions we're not asking?

03:18That mindset of creating things that you can only imagine,

03:21that training came from my days at NASA.

03:23These AI tools can do incredible things,

03:26with regards to productivity.

03:28But I wonder how you think leaders should be balancing

03:30the potential productivity gains of this technology

03:33with real-life ethical considerations

03:36in how they leverage the technology.

03:39So productivity, and when I think about productivity,

03:41I think about short-term gains and long-term opportunities.

03:46I think a lot of times because there's this pusher,

03:48you have to adopt AI, you have to do something,

03:50you have to bring it in the accounting and the marketing

03:52and the communications, there's this aspect of short-term gains.

03:57But like we know for most companies,

03:58the short-term gains only give you a short life.

04:02And so you have to think about the considerations of

04:05how do I bring in these tools and realize that there is a human worker

04:09that is behind the screen.

04:12There is a human worker that you need to create and build

04:16because that is your customer, that is your buyer.

04:18I always think about if AI takes over our jobs,

04:21who's actually going to buy the products that AI creates

04:24if we have no money, if we have no jobs?

04:26It is an ecosystem.

04:27And if we think about this as an ecosystem,

04:29that AI can take some of our functions, take some of our jobs,

04:32but they're not necessarily buying the things that it's creating.

04:36You therefore need to have human talent working

04:38in order to have a living wage in order to buy that.

04:42And so we have to think about those checks and balances

04:45in order to grow.

04:45So as the underlying technology itself continues to change,

04:49continues to evolve, maybe into more of an agentic-based future,

04:52how do we ensure that the new technology,

04:55the new innovation stays human-centric?

04:57What are those key points of consideration

04:58that you think maybe more business leaders

05:01should take into account?

05:02So I think when we're asking the questions

05:04around the functions that we want agentic AI to take on,

05:09we need to ask what is the return on investment?

05:11But the investment is not just about finances.

05:14It's about people, it's about capital, it's about the environment.

05:17It's all of these things.

05:18And so I think we need to rephrase how we think about the return

05:22so that we can ensure that we're actually getting

05:25a valid return on investment based on our society,

05:28based on our community, but also based on the finances.

05:31The question is, if you're going to have an increase of revenue

05:33of $10 versus $11,

05:35but you are going to lose jobs at the rate of $1 million versus $10 million,

05:42like that should be part of your equation.

05:43It's not just about you saving $10 or $1 or $0.10 on your margins.

05:49And so those things need leaders to redefine

05:53what you think about in terms of the return.

05:56And I have to ask you about your work with Zy Robotics,

05:58your co-founder and board director.

06:00It's in a group that's doing incredible work

06:02for children with special needs.

06:03Talk to us about what that work looks like,

06:06specifically through the lens of STEM education.

06:09Yeah, so I co-founded Zy Robotics as a university startup,

06:12actually about a decade ago.

06:14And the focus was to use AI-powered tools

06:17to adapt to the different learning styles

06:20of children with diverse needs.

06:22A child with a disability, a child with a special need,

06:25they learn in unique ways.

06:27And so how can we have these educational tools

06:30adapt to the child's style

06:32versus the child trying to adapt

06:34to the style of the educational STEM tool?

06:38And so we design both tangibles,

06:41so devices that you can touch,

06:43that you could use to engage with different types of apps.

06:46Our apps use AI to adapt the learning,

06:49to adapt the pace of learning.

06:50And at the end, I could say

06:52that I could get a three-year-old to learn how to code

06:55because it could adapt to a three-year-old's learning,

06:58their knowledge base,

06:59but also the eight-year-old's learning and knowledge base.

07:02The underlying technology is incredible.

07:03It continues to evolve all the time.

07:05And we all get smarter as a public

07:07by listening to experts like yourself.

07:09Ayanna Howard of The Ohio State University.

07:12Very good to have you.

07:13Thanks a lot for taking the time.

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