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This class focuses on understanding the psychological dimensions of human-AI interaction and translating these insights into the design of AI systems that foster human flourishing. Specifically, it goes beyond the conventional emphasis on designing AI to enhance human productivity to instead address more profound aspirations, such as how AI may support wisdom, wonder, and well-being. The class will explore the effects of design decisions for AI interaction on human motivation, engagement, critical thinking, self-reflection, self-confidence, biases, social connections and mental health. It will address both timely and enduring themes within Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) by engaging with the emergence of pervasive AI and questioning how it relates to the ageless pursuit of human flourishing.
The class will be limited to 25 in-person students. Priority will be given to MIT Media Lab students, other students from MIT, and students who take the class for credit, in that order. Applications for attending the course are due by Thursday Sept 4th midnight. Students will be notified of acceptance by Monday Sept 9th midnight.
Course website: https://sites.google.com/mit.edu/mas-s64-2025-fall
Note: Please join the class only if you have received an official confirmation email to take the course for credit. At this time, we are unable to accommodate listeners, as we want to maintain a focused and engaging discussion for enrolled students.
Week 1 (Sept 4th): Introduction to Human Flourishing
Establishes the philosophical, psychological & scientific foundation for reimagining AI's role beyond efficiency metrics to consider meaning, wellbeing, and human values. Introduces frameworks for evaluating AI systems through the lens of human flourishing rather than performance optimization.
Week 2 (Sept 11th): Defining Human Flourishing & Methodologies for Human-AI Interaction
Examines empirical research on what constitutes human flourishing, including eudaimonia, positive psychology, behavioral sciences, and more. Explores measurement approaches and indicators that can guide the design of human-centered AI systems.
Week 3 (Sept 18th): Comprehension, Reasoning & Agency
How can AI interaction enhance critical thinking skills and preserve human agency by promoting the search for truth and understanding, supporting healthy questioning, reasoning, and deeper conversations in an increasingly complex information landscape?
Week 4 (Sept 18th): Curiosity & Learning
How can AI support learning and self-development? How can AI-enabled personalization create learning experiences that adapt to individual interests and knowledge gaps and motivate deeper engagement by supporting each person's unique learning journey?
Week 5 (Oct 2nd): Creativity & Expression
How can AI systems empower people's creative agency? How can we design tools and interactions that amplify diverse artistic expressions and foster deeper appreciation for human creativity across cultures?
Week 6 (Oct 9th): Healthy Social Lives
How can AI strengthen authentic human connections instead of replacing them? How do we design AI technologies that enhance rather than diminish the richness of interpersonal relationships?
Week 7 (Oct 16th): Project Ideation & Proposals
Workshop session for developing proposals for AI systems that actively promote human flourishing. Teams articulate design principles, scientific insights behind the design, identify specific flourishing dimensions to address, and receive feedback on feasibility and measurement strategies. Teams submit detailed project plans and receive formative feedback from instructors and peers to refine their proposals.
Week 8 (Oct 16th): No Class —MIT Media Lab Fall Meeting
Week 9 (Oct 30th): Mental & Emotional Wellbeing
How can AI support mental health and emotional well-being, for example, by providing more preventative and personalized health support, aiding with behavior change, monitoring health data, and anticipating problems?
Week 10 (Nov 6th): AI & Sense of Purpose
How can human-AI interaction help people identify and pursue their unique values and long term goals while creating opportunities for making meaningful contributions to society?
Week 11 (Nov 13th): Interim Project Presentations
Student teams present interim results of their refined projects and receive feedback from peers and instructors.
Week 12 (Nov 20th): Societal Flourishing
How can AI impact societal health, including democracy, equity, resilience, stability, peace, and more?
Week 13 (Nov 27th): No Class — Thanksgiving break
Week 14 (Nov 20th): Project Finalization
Time for teams to refine projects, conduct user research, develop prototypes, and design evaluation studies. Each team meets with instructors individually. Groups prepare presentations that articulate their vision & theory of change and approach to measuring impact on human flourishing.
Week 15 (Dec 11): Final Project Presentation and Report
Student teams present their project, demonstrating how they address specific dimensions of human-AI interaction in their design or research. Includes critical reflection on trade-offs, limitations, and synthesis discussions about the future of human-centered AI design.
1. Class Participation in Discussion (30% of grade)
2. Weekly Design Exercise (30% of grade)
Each week, students create speculative designs that explore alternative futures for human-AI interaction, drawing on that week’s class theme. These short exercises—presented as sketches, scenarios, or design fictions—translate theory into tangible possibilities and are shared through a brief in-class presentation.
3. Midterm Report and Final Project Presentation (40% of grade)
At the course midpoint, student teams (groups of 2-3 people) submit a proposal for an AI system or intervention that addresses a specific dimension of human flourishing. The proposal must articulate a clear theory grounding the design in empirical research on human psychology and well-being. Students identify their target aspect of flourishing, present a unique concept and supporting evidence for their approach, offer a detailed proposal of work, and outline methods for evaluating the approach. The proposal includes ethical considerations and potential risks.
The same teams further develop their midterm proposals into refined, completed research projects with evidence of user research, prototyping, and/or empirical evaluation. Final presentations (oral + paper) must demonstrate how the design addresses psychological dimensions of human-AI interaction through specific design decisions and features. Students present their measurement framework for assessing impact on human flourishing. Projects are evaluated on theoretical grounding, design innovation, empirical rigor, and clarity of communication.