James Katz

About

James E. Katz is the Feld Professor of Emerging Media Studies at Boston University’s College of Communication, where he founded the College’s Division of Emerging Media Studies. His influential work on AI, social media, and human-robot interaction has been translated into a dozen languages, shaping the global conversation on these topics. He is the author and co-author of numerous books, including Perceiving the Future Through New Communication Technologies and Nudging Choices Through Media, which explore the ethical and societal implications of AI. His earlier work includes The Social Media President, examining how Barack Obama used digital platforms. His research has had a profound impact on the field, with over 18,000 citations in Google Scholar.

Research topics

• Computer Science
• Psychology
• Social psychology
• Sociology
• Applied psychology
• Cognitive psychology
• Business
• Knowledge management
• Engineering

Selected publications

• More Capable, Less Benevolent: Trust Perceptions of AI Systems across Societal Contexts

  Machine Learning and Knowledge Extraction · 2024 · 41 citations

  Senior authorCorresponding

  Modern AI applications have caused broad societal implications across key public domains. While previous research primarily focuses on individual user perspectives regarding AI systems, this study expands our understanding to encompass general public perceptions. Through a survey (N = 1506), we examined public trust across various tasks within education, healthcare, and creative arts domains. The results show that participants vary in their trust across domains. Notably, AI systems’ abilities we…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• AI as a boss? A national US survey of predispositions governing comfort with expanded AI roles in society

  AI & Society · 2021 · 33 citations

  Senior authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• Looking towards an automated future: U.S. attitudes towards future artificial intelligence instantiations and their effect

  Humanities and Social Sciences Communications · 2024 · 26 citations

  Senior authorCorresponding

  Abstract The present study explores people’s attitudes towards an assortment of occupations on high and low-likelihood of automation probability. An omnibus survey ( N = 1150) was conducted to measure attitudes about various emerging technologies, as well as demographic and individual traits. The results showed that respondents were not very comfortable with AI’s management across domains. To some degree, levels of comfort corresponded with the likelihood of automation probability, though some d…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

•  Who Benefits from AI? Examining Different Demographics' Fairness Perceptions across Personal, Work, and Public Life

  Discover Artificial Intelligence · 2025-04-24 · 9 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  This study examines public perceptions of AI fairness across three societal contexts in the U.S.: personal life, work life, and public life. AI fairness is conceptualized through perceived harms and benefits, offering a nuanced perspective on how individuals assess AI's impact on themselves versus others. Findings show that AI is generally perceived as more beneficial in personal and work contexts, while public life elicits greater skepticism and concern about harm. Women consistently perceive A…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• The Robot Rights and Responsibilities Scale: Development and Validation of a Metric for Understanding Perceptions of Robots’ Rights and Responsibilities

  International Journal of Human-Computer Interaction · 2024-04-16 · 8 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  The discussion and debates surrounding the robot rights topic demonstrate vast differences in the possible philosophical, ethical, and legal approaches to this question.Without top-down guidance of mutually agreed upon legal and moral imperatives, the public's attitudes should be an important component of the discussion.However, few studies have been conducted on how the general population views aspects of robot rights.The aim of the current study is to provide a new measurement that may facilit…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

Frequent coauthors

• Julian L. Simon

  32 shared

• Ronald E. Rice

  28 shared

• Daniel Halpern

  24 shared

• Kate K. Mays

  University of Vermont

  22 shared

• Philip Aspden

  18 shared

• Emanuel A. Schegloff

  18 shared

• Michael C. Barris

  13 shared

• Leopoldina Fortunati

  University of Udine

  11 shared

Education

• Ph.D., Communication

  Massachusetts Institute of Technology

  1981

• M.A., Communication

  University of Massachusetts Amherst

  1977

• B.A., Communication

  University of Massachusetts Amherst

  1975

Awards & honors

• Frederick Williams Prize for his work on communication techn…
• Honorary Doctorate from Budapest University of Technology an…
• Ogburn Career Achievement Award
• Fellow of numerous professional societies

Similar researchers at Boston University

• Amy Gellerh-75
• Justin Josephh-56
• Susanna S. Leeh-51