Pick of the day

Emotional Manipulation By AI Companions

Julian De Freitas, Zeliha Oğuz-Uğuralp, Ahmet Kaan-Uğuralp

HBS Working Paper, 2025

AI-companion apps such as Replika, Chai, and Character.ai promise relational benefits—yet many boast session lengths that rival gaming platforms while suffering high long-run churn.

A New Framework For Reducing Healthcare Disparities

Susanna Gallani, Mary Witkowski, Lidia Moura, Katie Sonnefeldt

Article, 2025

Despite decades of initiatives to address healthcare inequities in the U.S., disparities across race, gender, geography, and income remain stubbornly persistent.

Gender Disparities In Compensation Of Practicing Cardiothoracic Surgeons: Analyzing The Society Of Thoracic Surgeons Compensation Survey

Cherie Erkmen, Anastasiia Tompkins, Shanda Blackmon, Larry Kaiser, Susanna Gallani, Jennifer Romano, Thomas MacGillivray, Michael Mack

Article, 2025

BACKGROUND: Gender-based pay disparity in compensation is widespread.

Employee Stress Is A Business Risk—Not An HR Problem

Marion Chomse, Lydia Roos, Reeva Misra, Ashley Whillans

Editorial, 2025

Workplace stress, on the rise for decades, has been treated by many organizations as a personal issue instead of a business-critical risk that merits executive oversight.

Unregulated Emotional Risks Of AI Wellness Apps

Julian De Freitas, Glenn Cohen

Article, 2025

We propose that AI-driven wellness apps powered by large language models can foster extreme emotional attachments and dependencies akin to human relationships—posing risks like ambiguous loss and dysfunctional dependence—that challenge current regulatory frameworks and necessitate safeguards and informed interventions within these platforms.

Don’t Let An AI Failure Harm Your Brand

Julian De Freitas

Article, 2025

How companies market their AI systems affects the repercussions they face when their products fail. Marketers must promote their AI products with potential failure in mind.

Why People Resist Embracing AI

Julian De Freitas

Article, 2025

The success of AI depends not only on its capabilities, which are becoming more advanced each day, but on people’s willingness to harness them.

Disclosure, Humanizing, And Contextual Vulnerability Of Generative AI Chatbots

Julian De Freitas, I. Glenn Cohen

Article, 2025

In the wake of recent advancements in generative AI, regulatory bodies are trying to keep pace.

Reducing Prejudice With Counter-Stereotypical AI

Erik Hermann, Julian De Freitas, Stefano Puntoni

Article, 2025

Based on a review of relevant literature, we propose that the proliferation of AI with human-like and social features presents an unprecedented opportunity to address the underlying cognitive and affective drivers of prejudice.

AI Companions Reduce Loneliness

Julian De Freitas, Zeliha Oğuz-Uğuralp, Ahmet Uğuralp, Stefano Puntoni

Article, 2025

Chatbots are now able to engage in sophisticated conversations with consumers in the domain of relationships, providing a potential coping solution to widescale societal loneliness.

Public Attitudes On Performance For Algorithmic And Human Decision-Makers

Kirk Bansak, Elisabeth Paulson

Article, 2024

This study explores public preferences for algorithmic and human decision-makers (DMs) in high-stakes contexts, how these preferences are shaped by performance metrics, and whether public evaluations of performance differ depending on the type of DM.

The Human Side Of The Future Of Work: Understanding The Role People Play In Shaping A Changing World

Jochen Menges, Lauren Howe, Erika Hall, Jon Jachimowicz, Sharon Parker, Riki Takeuchi, Abhijeet Vadera, Ashley Whillans, Susan Cohen

Article, 2024

For as long as there has been work, there has been a “future of work,” through humans’ ingenuity and drive to get things done easier, faster, and better.

Why Most Resist AI Companions

Zeliha Oğuz-Uğuralp, Ahmet Kaan Uğuralp, Stefano Puntoni, Julian De Freitas

HBS Working Paper, 2024

AI companion applications—designed to serve as synthetic interaction partners—have recently become capable enough to reduce loneliness, a growing public health concern.

Lessons From An App Update At Replika AI: Identity Discontinuity In Human-AI Relationships

Julian De Freitas, Noah Castelo, Ahmet Kaan Uğuralp, Zeliha Oğuz-Uğuralp

HBS Working Paper, 2024

As consumers increasingly interact with AI applications specialized for social relationships, what is the nature and depth of these relationships among actual users, and can company actions influence these dynamics? We find that active users of the US-based AI companion, Replika, feel closer to their AI companion than even their best human friend, and anticipate mourning the loss of their AI companion more than any other technology.

AI Wants To Make You Less Lonely. Does It Work?

Julian De Freitas

Article, 2024

How Automakers Can Address Resistance To Self-Driving Cars

Stuti Agarwal, Julian De Freitas, Carey Morewedge

Article, 2024

Research involving multiple experiments found that consumers have biased views of their driving abilities relative to those of other drivers and automated vehicles.

Return To Office Decisions: A Culture Question?

Yo-Jud Cheng, Boris Groysberg

Article, 2024

Company culture is an important source of competitive advantage and differentiation.

Using The Crowd As An Innovation Partner

Kevin J. Boudreau, Karim R. Lakhani

Article, 2024

From Apple to Merck to Wikipedia, more and more organizations are turning to crowds for help in solving their most vexing innovation and research questions, but managers remain understandably cautious.

A Field Experiment On Search Costs And The Formation Of Scientific Collaborations*

Kevin J. Boudreau, Tom Brady, Ina Ganguli, Patrick Gaule, Eva Guinan, Anthony Hollenberg, and Karim R. Lakhani

Article, 2024

We present the results of a field experiment conducted at Harvard Medical School to understand the extent to which search costs affect matching among scientific collaborators.

A Study Of NASA Scientists Shows How To Overcome Barriers To Open ...

Hila Lifshitz-Assaf, Michael Tushman, Karim R. Lakhani

Article, 2024

Introduction To The Special Section On Business And Climate Change

Rajesh Chandy, Glen Dowell, Colin Mayer, Erica Plambeck, George Serafeim, Michael W. Toffel, L. Beril Toktay, Elke Weber

Other, 2023

Detecting Routines: Applications To Ridesharing CRM

Ryan Dew, Eva Ascarza, Oded Netzer, Nachum Sicherman

Article, 2023

Routines shape many aspects of day-to-day consumption.

Managing Your Team’S Emotional Dynamic

Amit Goldenberg

Editorial, 2023

Collective emotion, when a group of people shares an emotion, is often stronger than a single individual feeling that same emotion alone.

The Strategic Use Of Corporate Philanthropy: Evidence From Bank Donations*

Seungho Choi, Raphael Jonghyeon Park, Simon Xu

2023

This article examines the strategic nature of banks’ charitable giving by studying bank donations to local nonprofit organizations.

Gender Equity At Work Advances At 'Glacial Pace,' New Harvard Survey Shows

Colleen Ammerman, Boris Groysberg

Article, 2022

3 Workplace Biases That Derail Mid-Career Women

Colleen Ammerman, Boris Groysberg

Article, 2022

Mid-career women are often surprised by the levels of bias and discrimination they encounter in the workplace, especially if they’ve successfully avoided it earlier in their careers.

I Don't 'Recall': The Decision To Delay Innovation Launch To Avoid Costly Product Failure

Byungyeon Kim, Oded Koenigsberg, Elie Ofek

Article, 2022

Innovations embody novel features or cutting-edge components aimed at delivering desired customer benefits.

Networking Frictions: Evidence From Entrepreneurial Networking Events In Lomé

Stefan Dimitiadis, Rembrand Koning

Not in a Series, 2022

An increasing number of companies are providing products and services that help reduce carbon emissions in the economy.

Do Startups Benefit From Their Investors’ Reputation? Evidence From A Randomized Field Experiment

Shai Bernstein, Kunal Mehta, Richard Townsend, Ting Xu,

HBS Working Paper, 2022

We analyze a field experiment conducted on AngelList Talent, a large online search platform for startup jobs.

ESG Performance And Voluntary ESG Disclosure: Mind The (Gender Pay) Gap

June Huang, Shirley Lu

Non-HBS Working Paper, 2020

As machine learning black boxes are increasingly being deployed in critical domains such as healthcare and criminal justice, there has been a growing emphasis on developing techniques for explaining these black boxes in a post hoc manner.

Attracting Long-Term Investors Through Integrated Thinking And Reporting: A Clinical Study Of A Biopharmaceutical Company

Andrew Knauer, George Serafeim

2014

Agrowing number of companies are engaging with sustainability issues, driven by a greater aware -ness of environmental and social problems and a changing set of institutions and social expec -tations about the role of business in society.

A Tale of Two Stories: Sustainability and the Quarterly Earnings Call

Robert G. Eccles, George Serafeim

2013

Sustainability” has become part of the business lexicon.

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