Generative AI and the future of human connection [this collaboration between the hastings center and the division of medical ethics at NYU seeks to prepare a manuscript for a themed issue of the…

The National Endowment for the Humanities awarded Hastings Center Inc. $345,276 on January 1, 2026, under the Promotion of the Humanities Research program (CFDA 45.161) to prepare a themed issue of The Hastings Center Report titled "Generative AI and the Future of Human Connection."

The project, conducted in collaboration with the Division of Medical Ethics at New York University, will produce articles that critically evaluate eight attributes—empathy, care, trust, morality, emotion, attention, human exceptionalism, and flourishing—using examples of artificial intelligence in healthcare to ground the inquiry. The special issue addresses the intersection of humanities and AI by asking what humans offer each other that generative AI may mimic but never replace, with the goal of setting a new tone for AI ethics and directing humanities scholarship toward understanding human connection in an AI-enabled world.

Hastings Center Inc., a bioethics research nonprofit located in Garrison, New York, serves as the recipient. Work is performed in New York. The period of performance runs from January 1, 2026, through March 31, 2028. The award is classified as a Project Grant under the Humanities Research program, which supports projects that extend existing scholarly research and create foundational materials for future long-term research in the humanities.

Generative AI and the future of human connection [this collaboration between the hastings center and the division of medical ethics at NYU seeks to prepare a manuscript for a themed issue of the prominent bioethics journal & nbsp; the hastings center report & nbsp; called ?generative AI and the future of human connection.? This special issue will ask a question that only arises at the intersection of the humanities and AI??what are humans good for?? What, in other words, do humans offer each other that generative AI may be able to mimic but never replace? The articles in this special issue will critically evaluate eight candidates?empathy, care, trust, morality, emotion, attention, human exceptionalism and flourishing?using examples of AI in healthcare to make the questions more concrete. We hope that this collaboration will set a new tone for AI ethics and push humanities research in new directions. Our long-term vision is to form a foundation for scholarship that will ensure a future for human connection in a world of AI.]