What do we owe each other in an age of artificial intimacy? This episode dives into Tricia Friedman's interactive ethics exercise, Table for One?, which uses the metaphor of an AI companion restaurant — a venue where diners are paired with a conversational AI — to surface hard questions about safety, manipulation, dependency, privacy, and shifting social norms.

What the Resource Is: An interactive tool that walks participants through 5 ethical dilemmas. For each, you choose one of four stances (allow with disclosures, pilot with evaluation, allow with safeguards, or do not allow), rate your confidence, and reflect using the D.I.N.E. framework:

• D – Direct impact: who is affected now?
• I – Indirect effects and unintended consequences
• N – Next-generation norms and long-run drift
• E – Evidence gaps and what data is missing

Why It Matters: AI companions are already here. This exercise moves the conversation beyond "is this cool or creepy?" into structured ethical reasoning — ideal for educators, leaders, and families trying to navigate companion AI thoughtfully.

Check out the resource:

https://triciafriedman.com/table-for-one-ethics-of-ai-companionship/

Join Tricia this March with AAIE:

https://www.aaie.org/leadership-learning/future-foresight-community