# Event Details - **Event Name**: Personal AI Companions: Agency, Intimacy, and Social Reasoning - **Event Start and End Date**: Wed, 15 Apr, 2026 at 04:00 pm – Wed, 15 Apr, 2026 at 05:00 pm (-07:00) - **Event Description**: Design@Large is a UC San Diego course powered by The Design Lab that is open to the public.About this EventAbout this SeriesArtificial intelligence is no longer confined to research labs or technical infrastructure—it is embedded in classrooms, creative practice, healthcare systems, communication platforms, and planetary-scale infrastructures. As AI systems move from experimental tools to everyday companions, decision-makers, and mediators of social life, the question is no longer whether AI will shape our future, but how—and by whom.At the Design Lab, we approach AI not simply as an algorithmic achievement, but as a fundamentally human-centered design challenge. Intelligent systems must be technically robust, yet responsive to lived experience; powerful at scale, yet grounded in context; innovative, yet attentive to equity and responsibility. Across seven sessions, Design@Large in Spring 2026 brings together leading voices from research, industry, education, law, health, and the arts to explore how AI is designed, deployed, governed, and experienced in real-world settings. From generative AI in education and music to embodied intelligence in XR, from disability justice and communication to sustainable computing and Indigenous data sovereignty, and from personal AI companions to value-based care in health systems, the series examines AI where it meets people, institutions, and infrastructures.Rather than treating AI as a purely technical system, we frame it as a site of negotiation among human values, institutional incentives, cultural norms, and material conditions. Each session pairs scholars, practitioners, and industry leaders to interrogate how design decisions shape agency, creativity, trust, access, and care at scale.Design@Large is open to the broader public and livestreamed online, while also serving as a core seminar for over 100 undergraduate and graduate students at UC San Diego. Together, we ask: What does it mean to design AI responsibly? How do we ensure that intelligent systems amplify human capability without reproducing harm? And how can design guide AI toward more just, inclusive, and sustainable futures?About this TalkAs AI systems increasingly act as companions, collaborators, and conversational partners, they begin to occupy emotionally and socially meaningful roles. This session brings together effective computing, interactive agent design, and deployed personal AI systems to examine how machines simulate social reasoning, rapport, and presence. The discussion explores how agency is negotiated between humans and AI, how intimacy is engineered, and how people interpret and respond to systems designed to feel socially intelligent.About the SpeakersGale M. Lucas is a Research Associate Professor at the University of Southern California (USC). She is appointed in the Civil Engineering, Computer Science, and Psychology departments, and works at the Institute for Creative Technologies (ICT). She obtained her PhD in psychology from Northwestern University, and then completed a post-doc at USC in computer science. She stayed on at ICT as a senior researcher before becoming faculty. Dr. Lucas works in the areas of human-computer interaction, affective computing, and trust-in-automation.Suman KanugantiRaj AmmanabroluFor online ticket holders please follow this link for the live stream:https://ucsd.zoom.us/j/92833047954?pwd=mzHFwYqUWbg0KJbcTqYov65C6TY3Wa.1How to get to the Design and Innovation Building on the UC San Diego campusClick here for information about transportation options to get to the Design and Innovation Building. - **Event URL**: https://allevents.in/la-jolla/personal-ai-companions-agency-intimacy-and-social-reasoning/100001984311206234 - **Event Categories**: workshops, it, health-wellness, contests, nonprofit, artificial-intelligence, art - **Interested Audience**: - total_interested_count: 0 ## Ticket Details - **Ticket URL**: https://consumer.pxf.io/c/1339408/3151484/39691?partnerpropertyid=1191892&MediaPartnerPropertyId=1191892&svlink=14105511&level=1&u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.eventbrite.com%2Fe%2Fpersonal-ai-companions-agency-intimacy-and-social-reasoning-tickets-1984311206234 - **Ticket Price Range**: min: 0, max: 0, currency: USD ## Event venue details - **city**: La Jolla - **state**: CA - **country**: United States - **location**: UCSD Design & Innovation Building Room 208 - **lat**: 32.8794117 - **long**: -117.2322377 - **full address**: UCSD Design & Innovation Building Room 208, 9510 Innovation Lane, La Jolla, United States ## Event Organizer details - **affiliate_id**: 10 - **organizer**: UC San Diego Design Lab (https://allevents.in/org/uc-san-diego-design-lab/17773609) ## Event gallery - **Alt text**: banner - **Image URL**: https://cdn-az.allevents.in/events2/banners/f3ed4fe1244926ade252207a4b0b7b6b10268e04335a4ad17e4feafb3a34e804-rimg-w1200-h619-dc04c3d5-gmir.jpg?v=1772926281 - **Alt text**: thumbnail - **Image URL**: https://cdn-az.allevents.in/events2/banners/faa10a20c0aa8f6497aafbcd36e10fee98527bc71c1a056d1753c6c485aa4621-rimg-w400-h400-dc05c4d6-gmir.jpg?v=1772926280 ## FAQs - **Q**: When is the event happening? - **A:** Wed, 15 Apr, 2026 at 04:00 pm (-07:00) - **Q**: Where is the event happening? - **A:** UCSD Design & Innovation Building Room 208, 9510 Innovation Lane, La Jolla, United States - **Q**: What is the ticket price? - **A:** starting from 0 up to 0 USD - **Q**: Who is organizing the event? - **A:** UC San Diego Design Lab - **Q**: What type of event is this? - **A:** workshops, it, health-wellness, contests, nonprofit, artificial-intelligence, art - **Q**: Where can I find ticket details about Personal AI Companions: Agency, Intimacy, and Social Reasoning ? - **A:** You can find ticket details about this event on AllEvents. ## Structured Data (JSON-LD) ```json [ { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@type": "Event", "name": "Personal AI Companions: Agency, Intimacy, and Social Reasoning", "image": "https://cdn-az.allevents.in/events2/banners/f3ed4fe1244926ade252207a4b0b7b6b10268e04335a4ad17e4feafb3a34e804-rimg-w1200-h619-dc04c3d5-gmir.jpg?v=1772926281", "startDate": "2026-04-15T16:00:00-07:00", "endDate": "2026-04-15T17:00:00-07:00", "url": "https://allevents.in/la-jolla/personal-ai-companions-agency-intimacy-and-social-reasoning/100001984311206234", "eventStatus": "https://schema.org/EventScheduled", "location": { "@type": "Place", "name": "UCSD Design & Innovation Building Room 208", "address": { "@type": "PostalAddress", "streetAddress": "9510 Innovation Lane", "postalCode": "92093", "addressLocality": "La Jolla", "addressRegion": "CA", "addressCountry": "US" }, "geo": { "@type": "GeoCoordinates", "latitude": "32.8794117", "longitude": "-117.2322377" } }, "eventAttendanceMode": "https://schema.org/OfflineEventAttendanceMode", "description": "Design@Large is a UC San Diego course powered by The Design Lab that is open to the public.", "offers": [ { "@type": "AggregateOffer", "availability": "https://schema.org/InStock", "priceCurrency": "USD", "availabilityStarts": "2026-03-07", "availabilityEnds": "2026-04-15T17:00:00-07:00", "validFrom": "2026-03-07", "lowPrice": "0.00", "highPrice": "0.00", "price": "0.00", "url": "https://allevents.in/la-jolla/personal-ai-companions-agency-intimacy-and-social-reasoning/100001984311206234" }, { "@type": "Offer", "availability": "https://schema.org/InStock", "priceCurrency": "USD", "availabilityStarts": "2026-03-07", "availabilityEnds": "", "validFrom": "2026-03-07", "url": "https://allevents.in/la-jolla/personal-ai-companions-agency-intimacy-and-social-reasoning/100001984311206234", "price": 0, "name": "On-Site" }, { "@type": "Offer", "availability": "https://schema.org/InStock", "priceCurrency": "USD", "availabilityStarts": "2026-03-07", "availabilityEnds": "", "validFrom": "2026-03-07", "url": "https://allevents.in/la-jolla/personal-ai-companions-agency-intimacy-and-social-reasoning/100001984311206234", "price": 0, "name": "Online" } ], "organizer": [ { "@type": "Organization", "name": "UC San Diego Design Lab", "url": "https://allevents.in/org/uc-san-diego-design-lab/17773609", "description": "https://designlab.ucsd.edu/" } ] } ] ```