AI Companions: Helpful or Harmful? End of Social Skills or Motivating Sidekick? Strategic Ethical AI Choices

AI companions are moving from novelty to daily presence. But are we building systems that strengthen human capability or quietly erode it?

This talk will explore the strategic design decisions that shape AI native products long before regulation catches up. From how agents initiate interaction to how they influence behavior, ethical choices are embedded in architecture, incentives, and product strategy. We will share how we wrote and publicly committed to an AI Code of Ethics while building an AI companion, and why we believe developers must define clear principles in a world where policy often lags innovation.

Attendees will leave with a practical framework for embedding ethics directly into AI agents from day one, not as compliance but as product design. If you are building systems that interact with humans at scale, the responsibility is already in your hands.