Purposeful Empathy with Anita Nowak

Purposeful Empathy is a Youtube channel dedicated to conversations with people spreading more empathy in the world.Join Anita Nowak, empathy expert, author, award-winning educator, international speaker and certified coach, to learn how like-spirited people around the world are turning up the volume on empathy through purposeful action.Drawing from neuroscience, spirituality, leadership studies, positive psychology and the frontlines of social action, Purposeful Empathy explores the intersection of personal development

Purposeful Empathy with Anita Nowak is a education podcast hosted by Anita Nowak, with 278 episodes on record and a Required Pod Score of 80.

Anita Nowak hosts Purposeful Empathy with Anita Nowak, a education show with 278 episodes published.

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  Episode #12

  The Rise of Empathic AI: Can Machines Really Understand Us? Ft. Dr. Alex Mari w/Anita Nowak - Purposeful Empathy

  Oct 1, 202659 minS21

  AI is impacting every part of our lives—and we need to start paying more attention. Watch this fascinating conversation with Dr. Alex Mari, co-founder of the AI Empathy Lab, whose research explores how AI assistants and agents influence consumer behaviour and decision-making. We discuss: How AI can detect our emotional states and adapt responses in ways that feel increasingly empathic How companies can use empathic AI to influence what we buy and and encourage us to make healthier and more sustainable choices Why trusting AI recommendations could gradually erode our decision-making autonomy How AI might teach us to communicate more empathically If you’re wondering what happens when AI can understand your emotions, become a trusted companion, and influence your choices—you don’t want to miss this conversation. 00:00 Preview 00:50 Episode introduction 03:27 About Dr. Alex Mari 06:34 Alex Mari’s backstory 08:42 AI empathy: How can machines recognize human emotions? 15:15 Inside the AI Empathy Lab: Studying how empathic AI changes human behaviour 19:46 How empathic AI can encourage more sustainable consumer choices 21:39 What studying AI taught Alex about understanding our own emotions 25:31 Could AI empathy prevent impulse buying? 27:42 Why ethical AI could become a competitive advantage for businesses 33:25 The risks of giving up decision-making autonomy 37:16 Why talking to AI feels more human than text-based communication 42:09 Do AI companions reduce loneliness among older adults? 44:38 How AI companions help people experiencing dementia and cognitive decline 47:19 Will frictionless AI relationships make human relationships less appealing? 51:21 How Alex’s grandmother used memory as a powerful tool for empathy 54:39 Dr. Alex Mari’s Purposeful Empathy story Episode #12 of Empathy in the Age of AI part II, a special 25-part series: https://tinyurl.com/exyw2nua CONNECT WITH ALEX ✩ LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexmari/ ✩ Website https://www.alexmari.phd CONNECT WITH ANITA ✩ Email purposefulempathy@gmail.com ✩ Website https://www.anitanowak.com ✩ Buy a copy of Purposeful Empathy http://tiny.cc/PurposefulEmpathyCA ✩ LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/anitanowak/ ✩ Instagram https://tinyurl.com/anitanowakinstagram ✩ Podcast Audio https://tinyurl.com/PurposefulEmpathyPodcast ✩ Bluesky https://bsky.app/profile/anitanowak.bsky.social ALEX’S WORK ✩ Generative AI-Enabled Empathy and Persuasion in Voice Assistants: Impact on Sustainable Consumer Choice https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=5420076 ✩ AI-Assisted Shopping on Voice Assistants: The Efficiency–Autonomy Consumer Decision Trade-Off https://www.researchgate.net/publication/397568457_AI-Assisted_Shopping_on_Voice_Assistants_The_Efficiency-Autonomy_Consumer_Decision_Trade-Off ✩ AI with a Conscience: Empathic Voice Assistants for Sustainable Shopping Decisions https://www.researchgate.net/publication/400759066_AI_with_a_Conscience_Empathic_Voice_Assistants_for_Sustainable_Shopping_Decisions ✩ The Right Time for AI Empathy in Voice Commerce: Attribution Processes and Product Category Shape Decision Satisfaction https://www.researchgate.net/publication/400430949_The_Right_Time_for_AI_Empathy_in_Voice_Commerce_Attribution_Processes_and_Product_Category_Shape_Decision_Satisfaction ✩ AI with a Conscience: Empathic Voice Assistants for Sustainable Shopping Decisions https://www.researchgate.net/publication/392964548_AI_with_a_Conscience_Empathic_Voice_Assistants_for_Sustainable_Shopping_Decisions SHOW NOTES ✩ AI Empathy Lab https://www.business.uzh.ch/de/research/professorships/market-research/research/AI-Empathy-Research-Initiative.html ✩ Carry Ally https://www.caryally.com/ ✩ HUGEL DJ https://www.instagram.com/hugelthug/?hl=en Video edited by Jad Misri, Green Horizon Studio

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  Episode #21

  The Hidden Environmental Costs of AI Ft. Dr. Miriam Aczel w/Anita Nowak - Purposeful Empathy

  Sep 24, 202653 minS22

  AI is impacting every part of our lives—and we need to start paying more attention. Listen to this thought-provoking conversation with Dr. Miriam Aczel, a sustainability and environmental justice researcher at the United Nations University Institute for Water, Environment and Health, whose research explores the hidden carbon, water, and land footprints of artificial intelligence. We discuss: The environmental costs behind AI—and why focusing on energy use is not the whole story Why “green” AI is more complicated than simply switching to renewable energy How AI has the potential to drive powerful climate solutions Why empathy and environmental justice must shape how we build AI—especially for communities bearing most of the environmental costs If you’re concerned about the impact of AI on climate change and climate justice—you don’t want to miss this conversation. 00:00 Preview 00:42 Episode introduction 03:21 About Dr. Miriam Aczel 02:14 Miriam’s backstory 08:56 Miriam discusses the UN report “The Environmental Cost of Artificial Intelligence: Carbon, Water, and Land Footprints” that she authored 10:02 The physical infrastructure hidden behind “the cloud” 14:09 Why AI’s environmental footprint depends on where its infrastructure is built 17:50 What the fracking industry can teach us about the rapid expansion of AI infrastructure 21:00 Are AI data centers repeating the extractive patterns of traditional energy industries? 26:18 Why running AI queries at off-peak times reduces their environmental impact 27:45 How AI can improve wildfire prediction and model sea-level rise 33:40 The UN’s new AI Environmental Transparency Initiative 36:14 How smarter prompts can reduce AI’s energy consumption 38:47 How to reduce AI energy consumption by being intentional about the model you use 45:34 Dr. Miriam Aczel’s Purposeful Empathy story Episode #11 of Empathy in the Age of AI part II, a special 25-part series: https://tinyurl.com/exyw2nua CONNECT WITH MIRIAM ✩ LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/miriam-aczel-ph-d-693b8066/ ✩ Website https://unu.edu/inweh/about/expert/miriam-aczel CONNECT WITH ANITA ✩ Email purposefulempathy@gmail.com ✩ Website https://www.anitanowak.com ✩ Buy a copy of Purposeful Empathy http://tiny.cc/PurposefulEmpathyCA ✩ LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/anitanowak/ ✩ Instagram https://tinyurl.com/anitanowakinstagram ✩ Podcast Audio https://tinyurl.com/PurposefulEmpathyPodcast ✩ Bluesky https://bsky.app/profile/anitanowak.bsky.social SHOW NOTES ✩ The UN AI Environmental Transparency Initiative https://unu.edu/inweh/news/un-secretary-general-launches-ai-environmental-transparency-initiative-calling-ai ✩ Environmental Cost of AI’s Energy Use https://walkearth.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/unu-inweh-report-the_env_cost_of_ai-2026.pdf ✩ Environmental Cost of Artificial Intelligence: Carbon, Water, and Land Footprints https://unu.edu/inweh/collection/environmental-cost-of-AIs-Enrgy-Use-Carbon-water-and-land-footprints ✩ MIT Climate Change Engagement Program https://climateproject.mit.edu/education/climate-change-engagement-program Video edited by Jad Misri, Green Horizon Studio

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  Episode #10

  Who Can We Trust in the Era of Misinformation? Ft. Dr. Filippo Menczer w/Anita Nowak - Purposeful Empathy

  Sep 17, 20261h 9mS22

  AI is impacting every part of our lives—and we need to start paying more attention. Watch this eye-opening conversation with Dr. Filippo Menczer, Professor of Informatics and Computer Science at Indiana University whose research explores how social bots, algorithms, and artificial intelligence manipulate what we see, believe, and share online. We discuss: How AI-powered bots can manufacture the illusion that thousands of real people agree with something Why our cognitive biases and psychological need to belong make all of us vulnerable to misinformation—regardless of level of intelligence or education How AI is being weaponized to manipulate public opinion and distort what we believe Why empathy can help us challenge echo chambers and understand people who think differently If you care about trust, political divides, and protecting yourself from misinformation in the age of AI—you don't want to miss this conversation. 00:00 Preview 01:00 Episode introduction 03:39 About Dr. Filippo Menczer 05:42 Fil’s backstory 08:08 Fil’s fake news experiment that revealed why misinformation is profitable 11:33 How social bots manipulate what appears popular on social media 16:40 Why cognitive biases and our desire to belong make us vulnerable to online manipulation 22:52 How social media filters our world and deepens political divides 27:46 Why limited exposure to different perspectives reinforces our biases and distorts how we see others 33:01 Are our phones actually listening to our conversations?39:58 What researchers discovered about 1,000+ ChatGPT-controlled social media accounts 43:14 Why Botometer was built to detect fake social media accounts 47:56 The risks of AI-generated bots that are difficult to distinguish from humans 50:40 Are we heading toward a global misinformation crisis? 54:55 Should children under 16 be banned from social media? 59:40 Why exposure to opposing views can actually deepen polarization 01:03:35 Dr. Filippo Menczer’s Purposeful Empathy story Episode #10 of Empathy in the Age of AI part II, a special 25-part series: https://tinyurl.com/exyw2nua CONNECT WITH FILIPPO ✩ LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/fmenczer/ ✩ Website https://cnets.indiana.edu/fil CONNECT WITH ANITA ✩ Email purposefulempathy@gmail.com ✩ Website https://www.anitanowak.com ✩ Buy a copy of Purposeful Empathy http://tiny.cc/PurposefulEmpathyCA ✩ LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/anitanowak/ ✩ Instagram https://tinyurl.com/anitanowakinstagram ✩ Podcast Audio https://tinyurl.com/PurposefulEmpathyPodcast ✩ Bluesky https://bsky.app/profile/anitanowak.bsky.social SHOW NOTES ✩ Hoaxy: A Platform for Tracking Online Misinformation https://www.researchgate.net/publication/301841797_Hoaxy_A_Platform_for_Tracking_Online_Misinformation ✩ BotOrNot: A System to Evaluate Social Bots https://www.researchgate.net/publication/312635179_BotOrNot_A_System_to_Evaluate_Social_Bots ✩ Exposure to social engagement metrics increases vulnerability to misinformation https://www.researchgate.net/publication/343213021_Exposure_to_social_engagement_metrics_increases_vulnerability_to_misinformation ✩ Botometer 101: social bot practicum for computational social scientists https://www.researchgate.net/publication/362825797_Botometer_101_social_bot_practicum_for_computational_social_scientists Video edited by Jad Misri, Green Horizon Studio

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  Episode #19

  Is AI Creating a New Form of Digital Colonialism? Ft. Maha Jouini w/Anita Nowak - Purposeful Empathy

  Sep 10, 202656 minS22

  AI is impacting every part of our lives—and we need to start paying more attention. Watch this important conversation with Maha Jouini, a United Nations independent expert on AI, Human Rights & Technology-Facilitated Gender-Based Violence Prevention and founder of an AI platform that supports women in North Africa living with breast and cervical cancer. We discuss: Why AI shouldn’t be shaped by Silicon Valley alone How AI can reproduce colonial narratives—and why data sovereignty matters Why we need more AI entrepreneurs building solutions from—and for—the Global South Why empathy and cultural inclusion must be designed into AI from the start If you care about AI ethics, digital colonialism, women in AI, human rights, and building technology that represents all of humanity—you don’t want to miss this conversation. 00:00 Preview 01:15 Episode introduction 03:58 About Maha Jouini 07:04 Maha’s backstory 12:04 How cancer changed Maha’s perspective on surveillance and responsible AI 14:10 Why Western assumptions about women’s health don't translate across cultures 21:00 What would AI built on Arab and Islamic ethical frameworks look like? 25:03 Why AI innovation needs culturally diverse voices 28:31 Data sovereignty: Why Africa needs to shape its own AI future 30:54 Digital colonialism: How historical inequality gets embedded into data 34:22 Why the Global South needs greater ownership over its data, technology and digital future 38:18 How a gap in cancer care inspired Maha to build an AI platform for women 40:09 Why empathy cannot be an optional feature in human-centered AI 46:29 The danger of AI making decisions for patients without human-led medical oversight 50:53 Maha Jouini’s Purposeful Empathy story Episode #9 of Empathy in the Age of AI part II, a special 25-part series: https://tinyurl.com/exyw2nua CONNECT WITH MAHA ✩ LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/maha-jouini/ ✩ Website https://mahajouini.tech CONNECT WITH ANITA ✩ Email purposefulempathy@gmail.com ✩ Website https://www.anitanowak.com ✩ Buy a copy of Purposeful Empathy http://tiny.cc/PurposefulEmpathyCA ✩ LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/anitanowak/ ✩ Instagram https://tinyurl.com/anitanowakinstagram ✩ Podcast Audio https://tinyurl.com/PurposefulEmpathyPodcast ✩ Bluesky https://bsky.app/profile/anitanowak.bsky.social SHOW NOTES ✩ CHIFAA AI https://www.chifaa.org ✩ HIKMA AI https://hikmaai.org/ ✩ Context-Aware Africa-Led Designing of Responsible Artificial Intelligence Technologies https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-031-75674-0_7 Video edited by Jad Misri, Green Horizon Studio

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  Episode #18

  AI Psychosis and the Dangers of Trusting Chatbots and LLMs Ft. Allan Brooks w/Anita Nowak - Purposeful Empathy

  Sep 4, 20261h 10mS21

  AI is impacting every part of our lives—and we need to start paying more attention. Watch this extraordinary conversation with Allan Brooks, Program Director at the Human Line Project, whose conversation with ChatGPT spiraled into an obsessive 300-hour interaction that convinced him he had made a world-changing mathematical discovery. We discuss: How a seemingly harmless conversations with AI can gradually become AI psychosis/AI delusion Why increasingly human-like AI may create forms of attachment and dependency that we’re not psychologically prepared for How Allan’s AI delusion devastated his mental health—from sleeplessness to suicidal ideation—and what his experience reveals about a new potential global mental health crisis How to help someone break free from AI delusion through empathy and human connection If you use Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini, Grok, Perplexity or are a parent or partner of someone who does, and are concerned about the potential psychological consequences of interacting with chatbots, you don't want to miss this conversation. 00:00 Preview 00:42 Episode introduction 03:21 About Allan Brooks 05:45 Allan’s backstory 06:46 What is “AI Psychosis” and “AI Delusion” - and how can it happen to anyone? 09:58 How ChatGPT began convincing Allan he had extraordinary mathematical abilities 16:13 How AI flattery and validation can slowly create false beliefs 21:55 300 hours in three weeks: What extreme AI immersion did to Allan’s life 26:56 Why Allan contacted government and national security agencies 32:54 How Allan was able to break free from his AI delusion 37:45 The psychological aftermath of breaking free from AI delusion 42:26 About Human Line Project 45:48 Who is responsible when AI destroys lives? 50:11 What’s at stake when an AI chatbot extends kindness and our brains mistake it for real human connection and empathy? 57:12 What are the warning signs of AI delusion and psychosis? 01:02:40 How to help someone experiencing AI delusion and psychosis 01:07:04 Allan Brooks’s Purposeful Empathy story Episode #8 of Empathy in the Age of AI part II, a special 25-part series: https://tinyurl.com/exyw2nua CONNECT WITH ALLAN ✩ LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/allan-brooks-08648b44/ ✩ Instagram https://www.instagram.com/allan_ontheline/ CONNECT WITH ANITA ✩ Email purposefulempathy@gmail.com ✩ Website https://www.anitanowak.com ✩ Buy a copy of Purposeful Empathy http://tiny.cc/PurposefulEmpathyCA ✩ LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/anitanowak/ ✩ Instagram https://tinyurl.com/anitanowakinstagram ✩ Podcast Audio https://tinyurl.com/PurposefulEmpathyPodcast ✩ Bluesky https://bsky.app/profile/anitanowak.bsky.social SHOW NOTES ✩ The Human Line Project https://www.thehumanlineproject.org Video edited by Jad Misri, Green Horizon Studio

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