AI Boundaries: Refusal and Privacy

AI Boundaries: Refusal and Privacy

Please read the Virtual Event Code of Conduct. We will be recording the event presentations, but not discussions.

This event will take place October 17, 2025 at 12pm to 2pm CT. It will feature Professor Jasmine McNealy (University of Florida) and Hsuen-Chi (Hazel) Chiu (Purdue University). Register now!

This talk explores how companion chatbots invite deep emotional disclosure while raising concerns about data privacy—and how some communities are pushing back through AI refusal. Drawing on user interviews and privacy theory, it offers insights for designing emotionally intelligent AI that respects boundaries. Together, these perspectives offer a critical lens on designing emotionally resonant yet ethically responsible AI companions, and on the broader cultural implications of choosing not to engage at all.

Hsuen-Chi (Hazel) Chiu (Purdue University) will explore how companion chatbots —like Replika or Character.AI— blur the boundary between confiding in a trusted friend and engaging with data‑driven corporate platforms. Drawing on Communication Privacy Management theory and Philipp Masur’s distinction between horizontal (user–AI) and vertical (user–platform) privacy, she’ll share findings from in‑depth interviews with long‑term chatbot users. These reveal how anthropomorphic design invites deep self‑disclosure while heightening concerns over how sensitive data is stored, shared and monetized. This research provides clear practical applications for designing companion chatbots that responsibly balance emotional connection with robust privacy protections in both horizontal (user–AI) and vertical (user–platform) dimensions

Professor Jasmine McNealy (University of Florida) will discuss a growing movement in some communities attempts to limit interactions with AI systems, focusing on AI refusal and its implications.

Speaker Bios

• Hsuen-Chi (Hazel) Chiu is a PhD candidate in Communication at Purdue University, specializing in Media, Technology and Society under the guidance of Dr. Jeremy Foote. She holds a Master of Science in Media Science from Boston University and a Bachelor of Arts in Advertising and Public Relations from Fu Jen Catholic University in Taiwan. Her academic interests center on computer-mediated communication (CMC), online privacy management, and human-computer interaction (HCI), with a focus on how digital technologies shape human behavior and interactions in online environments.

• Jasmine McNealy is an attorney, critical public interest technologist, and social scientist who studies emerging media & technology with a view toward influencing law and policy. An internationally recognized scholar, her interdisciplinary research is at the intersection of media, technology, policy, and law, while emphasizing privacy, surveillance, and data governance as well as impacts on marginalized and vulnerable communities. She is a professor at the University of Florida where she directs the Infrastructure for Communities, Ecology for Data Hub (ICED Hub), and a Faculty Associate at the Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University.

This event is organized by the Community Data Science Collective and hosted and supported, in part, by a National Science Foundation grant (IIS-2045055) so that it will be held at no cost to attendees. A code of conduct will be shared with participants prior to the event. Discussions will be held under Chatham House Rule. Presentations will be recorded, though discussions will not.