Natalie Kim is a Ph.D. student at the Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism (USC). She earned her B.A. in Public Relations and Journalism, summa cum laude, and later completed a Master of Communication Management, summa cum laude, at USC. Before graduate research, she worked as an investigative journalist/producer, interpreter/translator, and marketer--experience that informs her scholarship at the intersection of human communication and AI. 

Natalie investigates human-machine relationships across social AIs, social robots, and game characters using mixed methods. She focuses on the verbal and nonverbal communicative and perceptual processes that unfold during interaction and their downstream effects: how emotions evolve around repeated encounters, how and why people form attachments to machine behavior, and how individuals make social judgments about these technologies’ place in society. Her current projects explore AI “cohabitants,” the heuristics that drive curiosity or fear of social robots, and the role of language and media representations in shaping public perceptions and attitudes.