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About

Peter van der Putten is a pioneering researcher at the intersection of artificial intelligence, human-robot interaction, and trust in autonomous systems. His work spans three critical domains: the development of agentic large language models (LLMs), the psychology of human-machine trust, and the social dynamics of human-robot bonding. His most cited paper, "Agentic Large Language Models, a Survey" (2025, 24 citations), provides a foundational framework for understanding LLMs that reason, act, and interact as autonomous agents, offering a research agenda that has already shaped the field. In "Trust Me on This One: Conforming to Conversational Assistants" (2021, 16 citations), van der Putten explores how users conform to AI recommendations, revealing critical insights into the mechanisms of trust and persuasion. His in-the-wild study, "Bonding with a Couchsurfing Robot" (2022, 4 citations), demonstrates that even non-anthropomorphic robots can foster strong social bonds through shared experiences. Van der Putten also applies machine learning to cultural analysis, as in "Exploring the Exactitudes Portrait Series with Restricted Boltzmann Machines" (2017, 2 citations). His work is notable for bridging technical AI development with real-world behavioral studies, making him a key voice in understanding how humans and intelligent systems coexist.