The Behavioral Design Podcast

In this spine-chilling Halloween special of the Behavioral Design Podcast, co-hosts Aline Holzwarth and Samuel Salzer take listeners on a journey into the eerie intersection of AI and behavioral science. They explore the potential ethical and social consequences of AI, from our urge to anthropomorphize machines to the creeping influence of human biases in AI engineering.

The episode kicks off with the hosts sharing their favorite Halloween costumes and family traditions before delving into the broader theme of Frankenstein as an apt metaphor for AI. They discuss the human inclination to attribute human qualities to non-human entities and the ethical implications of creating machines that mirror humanity. The conversation deepens with reflections on biases in AI development, risks of ‘playing God,’ and the tension between technological progress and human oversight.

In a thrilling twist, the hosts read a co-authored sci-fi story written with ChatGPT, illustrating the potential dark consequences of unchecked AI advancement. The episode wraps up with Halloween-themed wishes, encouraging listeners to ponder the boundaries between human and machine as they celebrate the holiday.

Timestamps:

03:38 – Frankenstein: Revisiting the original story

09:09 – Frankenstein’s Modern AI Metaphor: Parallels to today’s technology

18:06 – Reflections on AI and Anthropomorphism: The urge to humanize machines

36:31 – Exploring Human Biases in AI Development: How biases shape AI

42:06 – Trust in AI: Human vs. algorithmic decision-making

46:45 – The Personalization of AI Systems: Pros and cons of tailored experiences

49:10 – The Ethics of Playing God with AI: Examining the risks

55:56 – Concluding Thoughts and Halloween Wishes: Reflecting on AI’s duality

--

Interesting in collaborating with Nuance? If you’d like to become one of our special projects, email us at [email protected] or book a call directly on our website: ⁠nuancebehavior.com.⁠

Support the podcast by joining ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Habit Weekly Pro⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ 🚀. Members get access to extensive content databases, calls with field leaders, exclusive offers and discounts, and so much more.

Every Monday our ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Habit Weekly newsletter⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ shares the best articles, videos, podcasts, and exclusive premium content from the world of behavioral science and business. 

Get in touch via ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠[email protected]⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

The song used is ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Murgatroyd by David Pizarro⁠

In this episode of the Behavioral Design Podcast, we delve into the world of AI recommender systems with special guest Carey Morewedge, a leading expert in behavioral science and AI.

The discussion covers the fundamental mechanics behind AI recommendation systems, including content-based filtering, collaborative filtering, and hybrid models. Carey explains how platforms like Netflix, Twitter, and TikTok use implicit data to make predictions about user preferences, and how these systems often prioritize short-term engagement over long-term satisfaction.

The episode also touches on ethical concerns, such as the gap between revealed and normative preferences, and the risks of relying too much on algorithms without considering the full context of human behavior.

Join co-hosts Aline Holzwarth and Samuel Salzer as they together with Carey explore the delicate balance between human preferences and algorithmic influence. This episode is a must-listen for anyone interested in understanding the complexities of AI-driven recommendations!

--

LINKS:

Carey Morewedge:

Understanding AI Recommender Systems:

--

TIMESTAMPS:

00:00 The 'Do But Not Recommend' Game

07:53 The Complexity of Recommender Systems

08:58 Types of Recommender Systems

12:08 Introducing Carey Morewedge

14:13 Understanding Decision Making in AI

17:00 Challenges in AI Recommendations

32:13 Long-Term Impact on User Behavior

33:00 Understanding User Preferences

35:03 Challenges with A/B Testing

40:06 Algorithm Aversion

46:51 Quickfire Round: To AI or Not to AI

52:55 The Future of AI and Human Relationships

--

Interesting in collaborating with Nuance? If you’d like to become one of our special projects, email us at [email protected] or book a call directly on our website: ⁠nuancebehavior.com.⁠

Support the podcast by joining ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Habit Weekly Pro⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ 🚀. Members get access to extensive content databases, calls with field leaders, exclusive offers and discounts, and so much more.

Every Monday our ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Habit Weekly newsletter⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ shares the best articles, videos, podcasts, and exclusive premium content from the world of behavioral science and business. 

Get in touch via ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠[email protected]⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

The song used is ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Murgatroyd by David Pizarro⁠

In the latest episode of the Behavioral Design Podcast, we are excited to launch Season 4 with an in-depth exploration of how behavioral science and AI converge, setting the stage for an engaging and thought-provoking season.

This episode tackles big questions around AI’s growing influence, offering insights into both its promise and its challenges, especially as they relate to human behavior and decision-making.

Join co-hosts Aline Holzwarth and Samuel Salzer as they introduce key themes for the season, including the profound implications of AI on behavioral science and society at large. The episode opens with breaking news from the AI world, such as the significance of neural networks, which serve as the foundation of modern AI systems. The hosts explain how neural networks work and contrast them with the extraordinary complexity of the human brain.

The episode covers essential concepts for behavioral scientists, including large language models (LLMs), the backbone of generative AI, as well as prompt engineering and AI agents. These tools are transforming fields from healthcare to customer service, and the hosts break down their real-world applications, highlighting how they are used to enhance decision-making, automate workflows, and drive personalized interventions.

Samuel and Aline debunk several common myths about AI, such as whether generative AI truly enhances creativity or if more complex models are always better. They also explore algorithmic bias versus human bias, discussing how AI can both amplify and address societal inequities depending on how it is designed and implemented.

In “To AI or Not to AI”, this season’s quickfire round, the hosts weigh in on whether they’d trust AI for tasks like driving their kids to daycare or offering relationship advice, sparking a thought-provoking discussion on AI’s role in everyday life.

This episode is a must-listen for anyone curious about the evolving relationship between behavioral science and AI, offering both high-level insights and detailed explorations of the real-world implications of these technologies.

--

TIMESTAMPS:

00:00 Introduction to the Behavioral Design Podcast

LINKS:

--

Interesting in collaborating with Nuance? If you’d like to become one of our special projects, email us at [email protected] or book a call directly on our website: nuancebehavior.com.

Support the podcast by joining ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Habit Weekly Pro⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ 🚀. Members get access to extensive content databases, calls with field leaders, exclusive offers and discounts, and so much more.

Every Monday our ⁠⁠⁠⁠Habit Weekly newsletter⁠⁠⁠⁠ shares the best articles, videos, podcasts, and exclusive premium content from the world of behavioral science and business. 

Get in touch via ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠[email protected]⁠⁠⁠⁠

The song used is ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Murgatroyd by David Pizarro⁠

We've reached the end of Season 3! 🎉

In this finale, we give you the inside scoop on topics behavioral design from 2023. From our favorite resources to AI to films, we explore all things behavioral design, so you too are in the inside scoop! All resources are linked below. Enjoy!

From the bottom of our hearts, thank you for supporting us throughout the year! We appreciate you! 🙏 🙌

Gratitude:

Favorite Resources:

Top 10 films:

--

Support the podcast by joining ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Habit Weekly Pro⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ 🚀. Members get access to extensive content databases, calls with field leaders, exclusive offers and discounts, and so much more.

Every Monday our ⁠⁠⁠Habit Weekly newsletter⁠⁠⁠ shares the best articles, videos, podcasts, and exclusive premium content from the world of behavioral science and business. 

Get in touch via ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠[email protected]⁠⁠⁠

The song used is ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Murgatroyd by David Pizarro⁠

Welcome to the latest Product Deep Dive! ⁠💊

In this bonus series of the Behavioral Design Podcast, we take a closer look at the seemingly simple, yet tremendously important, pill bottle.

Previous guest, Aarthi Rao, took her stab at designing the best pill bottle, so we decided to deep dive into all things behavioral design in the pill bottle world, ourselves! Easy, attractive, social, personalized...tune in to learn more, this one was a lot of fun!

Thank you to all of our listeners for supporting our podcast. Tune in next week for our Season 3 finale!
--
--

Support the podcast by joining ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Habit Weekly Pro⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ 🚀. Members get access to extensive content databases, calls with field leaders, exclusive offers and discounts, and so much more.

Every Monday our ⁠⁠Habit Weekly newsletter⁠⁠ shares the best articles, videos, podcasts, and exclusive premium content from the world of behavioral science and business. 

Get in touch via ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠[email protected]⁠⁠

The song used is ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Murgatroyd by David Pizarro⁠

Aarthi Rao leads behavioral insights at Cityblock Health, as their Vice President of Behavioral Insights and Strategic Engagement Innovation. Aarthi also founded the Design and Innovation Lab at CVS Health.

Aarthi has successfully merged human-centered practices, such as design thinking, with behavioral science at Cityblock. She is a strong advocate for merging qualitative and quantitative methods to better design patient experiences. Today we spoke to Aarthi about how to reach hard-to-reach communities, designing the perfect pill bottle that fits into a patient’s healthcare ecosystem, and so much more. Enjoy!

--

Support the podcast by joining ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Habit Weekly Pro⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ 🚀. Members get access to extensive content databases, calls with field leaders, exclusive offers and discounts, and so much more.

Every Monday our ⁠Habit Weekly newsletter⁠ shares the best articles, videos, podcasts, and exclusive premium content from the world of behavioral science and business. 

Get in touch via ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠[email protected]⁠

The song used is ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Murgatroyd by David Pizarro⁠

Steph Habif is known for a range of health behavior research and strategy, and for leading behavioral science at Tandem Diabetes. Today we chat with Steph about what she’s doing at Tandem to design for diabetic patients, working at the intersection of behavioral science and human-computer interaction. We also went over what Steph called behavioral science's branding problem.

Do you know someone who would enjoy Behavioral Design? Please tell them about us! Thanks for listening!

--

Support the podcast by joining ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Habit Weekly Pro⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ 🚀. Members get access to extensive content databases, calls with field leaders, exclusive offers and discounts, and so much more.

Every Monday our Habit Weekly newsletter shares the best articles, videos, podcasts, and exclusive premium content from the world of behavioral science and business.

Get in touch via ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠[email protected]

The song used is ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Murgatroyd by David Pizarro⁠

Welcome to the latest Product Deep Dive! 🗓️

In this episode, we speak with Linda Babcock, Professor of Economics and former dean at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU). She’s also the founder and faculty director of the Program for Research and Outreach on Gender Equity in Society (PROGRESS), also at CMU.

Linda has a new book, The No Club: Putting a Stop to Women's Dead-End Work. During our conversation, we speak with Linda about why and what leads women to take on more "non-promotable tasks", how the work environment influences this and why the expectation is there in the first place. Happy listening!

--

Support the podcast by joining ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Habit Weekly Pro⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ 🚀

The song used is ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Murgatroyd by David Pizarro.⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Get in touch via ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠[email protected]

In this episode, we speak with Mitesh Patel, a leading expert on the use of nudges, gamification, and wearables to improve health. Mitesh founded and led the Penn Medicine Nudge Unit and is currently the Chief Clinical Transformation Officer at Ascension.

During our converstation, Mitesh discusses examples of behavioral design in the wild and how they can be used to encourage people to engage in healthy behaviors. Together we explore the topic of gamification and its potential use in encouraging exercise and discuss the application of behavioral science in healthcare. The episode includes a product deep dive into gyms and how they can be optimized using behavioral design principles. We hope you enjoy this episode!

--

Support the podcast by joining ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Habit Weekly Pro⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ 🚀

The song used is ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Murgatroyd by David Pizarro.⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Get in touch via ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠[email protected]