Matthijs Pontier
Science Communication Institute, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
Papers
8
Total Citations
106
H-Index
6
About
Matthijs Pontier is a pioneering researcher at the intersection of artificial intelligence, ethics, and human-robot interaction. His work centers on developing emotionally intelligent and morally aware autonomous agents, with a particular focus on how machines can navigate complex social and ethical landscapes. Pontier’s most cited paper, “Virtual Agents for Human Communication” (33 citations), introduces computational models for emotion regulation and involvement-distance trade-offs in embodied conversational agents and robots. He is perhaps best known for his groundbreaking work on machine ethics, notably “Toward machines that behave ethically better than humans do” (18 citations), which presents a novel moral reasoner combining connectionism, utilitarianism, and duty-based ethics. In a striking demonstration of his impact, Pontier conducted a speed-dating experiment where 54 women interacted with a virtual human, finding that participants treated the synthetic character much like a real human partner. His research also explores goal-directed behavior in robots, affective relationships between humans and software agents, and the perception of robots as gendered entities. With over 100 citations across his key works, Pontier continues to shape how we design machines that can reason ethically, express emotion, and build meaningful connections with people.
Research Focus
Key Achievements
Top Papers
- 1
- 2Toward machines that behave ethically better than humans do18 citations · 2012
- 3
- 4Dating a Synthetic Character is Like Dating a Man13 citations · 2018
- 5Moral Coppélia - Combining Ratio with Affect in Ethical Reasoning9 citations · 2012
- 6A robot's experience of another robot: Simulation7 citations · 2008
- 7Robots That Stimulate Autonomy6 citations · 2013
- 8How Women Think Robots Perceive Them – as if Robots were Men3 citations · 2013