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About

Jason Borenstein is a prominent ethicist whose research sits at the critical intersection of robotics, artificial intelligence, and social justice. Based at Georgia Tech, Borenstein has built a distinguished body of work examining the ethical dimensions of emerging robotic technologies, with particular focus on bias, trust, caregiving, and autonomous systems. His most cited work, "The Ugly Truth About Ourselves and Our Robot Creations" (2017, 339 citations), confronts how human prejudices become encoded into robotic systems, perpetuating social inequity in alarming ways. This thread of social justice runs throughout his scholarship, including his influential examination of robot gendering and whether assigning human-like characteristics to machines reinforces harmful stereotypes. Borenstein has made significant contributions to understanding overtrust in robotic contexts — from general public interaction to sensitive pediatric healthcare settings — warning of real-world dangers when humans place excessive faith in machines. His work on autonomous military robots has shaped international governance conversations around lethal AI systems, while his explorations of robot caregivers and intimacy push boundaries on what ethical human-robot relationships should look like. With nearly 1,000 citations across his top papers, Borenstein's scholarship serves as essential reading for anyone grappling with how robotics and AI reshape human society, identity, and moral responsibility.