AI and Human Connection

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Join CIIS Public Programs in collaboration with Human + Tech Week for an illuminating conversation event featuring sexologist Kaamna Bhojwani and Chair of the CIIS Human Sexuality department Michelle Marzullo. Together, they explore how we can use AI in ways that expand human flourishing—in our relationships, in our learning, and in our work.

As AI becomes embedded in both our inner lives and our institutional structures, the personal and the systemic are increasingly mirroring one another. Kaamna and Michelle invite you to ponder how we might engage AI not as a substitute for human connection, but as a tool for deepening it—and for reimagining AI as a mirror to the kind of humanness we want. In a world that seems more disconnected and disoriented, their dialogue considers the pathways to creating and consuming institutional and individual technology that is pro-social, proactive, and pro-human.

Meet the Speakers

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Kaamna Bhojwani is a certified sexologist, researcher, speaker and one of the leading voices at the intersection of technology and human intimacy including AI companions, sex tech and robotics. Kaamna writes a column for Psychology Today called Becoming Technosexual and a Substack by the same name. Kaamna is also the host of the Sex, Tech and Spirituality podcast where she dissects difficult topics like the origins of sexual shame and why tech companies shouldn’t dictate our relationship templates. She has been an expert guest on NPR, NBC, Reuters, Al Jazeera, at Duke University and more.

Kaamna has three degrees in psychology, including a Masters in Spiritual Psychology from Columbia University. Her life philosophy is simple - nothing in the human experience is profane, so let’s talk about it. Kaamna’s book Technosexual will be released in Feb 2027.

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Michelle Marzullo, Ph.D. is a professor, department chair, and AI leader asking a deceptively simple question: in a world where technology can simulate connection, what do we lose—and what might we become? Working across higher education, startups, and global research, she designs AI-enabled systems that strengthen, rather thanreplace, human capacities like empathy, meaning-making, and relational intelligence.

Her work sits at the intersection of systems design and human experience—examining how AI is restructuring institutions while simultaneously challenging us to examine our intimacies, identities, and connections. She advocates for building AI ecosystems that are not just efficient, but deeply aligned with human flourishing. Check out her interview on the podcast Technology and the Mind and her UNESCO article on designing ethical AI.

Related Academic Programs

M.A. and Ph.D. in Human Sexuality