Publications | Mysite

Publications and academic consulting

Andrew McStay

Books

Mail

Social impact, automated empathy, emotion, AI, governance and ethics

McStay, A. (2023). Automating Empathy: Decoding Technologies that Gauge Intimate Life. Oxford University Press.
Bakir, V. and McStay, A. (2022). Optimising Emotions, Incubating Falsehoods: How to Protect the Global Civic Body from Disinformation and Misinformation. Palgrave Macmillan, Springer.
McStay, A. (2018) Emotional AI: The Rise of Empathic Media. London: Sage.
- Chinese translation by Communication University of China Press and Indonesian by Penerbit Pustaka Pelajar.
McStay, A. (2017) Privacy and the Media. London: Sage.
McStay, A. (2016) Digital Advertising (Second Edition). London: Palgrave-Macmillan.
- Polish translation by University of Łódź Press.
McStay, A. (2014) Privacy and Philosophy: New Media and Affective Protocol. New York: Peter Lang.
McStay, A. (2013) Creativity and Advertising: Affect, Events and Process. London: Routledge.
McStay, A. (2011) The Mood of Information. New York: Continuum.
McStay, A. (2009) Digital Advertising. London: Palgrave-Macmillan.

Papers

McStay, A. (2024) The hidden influence: exploring presence in human-synthetic interactions through ghostbots. Ethics and Information Technology.
Bakir, V., Laffer, A., McStay, A., Miranda, D., & Urquhart, L. (2024). On manipulation by emotional AI: UK adults’ views and governance implications. Frontiers in Sociology, 9.
McStay, A. (2023) The Metaverse: Andrew McStay’s Responses to Cody Turner. Philos. Technol. 36, 72.
Bakir, V., Laffer, A. & McStay, A. (2023) Blurring the moral limits of data markets: biometrics, emotion and data dividends. AI & Society.
Bakir, V., Laffer, A. and McStay, A. (2023) Human-First, Please: Assessing Citizen Views and Industrial Ambition for Emotional AI in Recommender Systems. Surveillance and Society.
McStay, A. (2023) The Metaverse: Surveillant Physics, Virtual Realist Governance, and The Missing Commons. Philosophy & Technology.
McStay, A. (2022) Replika in the Metaverse: the moral problem with empathy in ‘It from Bit’. AI and Ethics.
McStay, A. (2022) Automated Empathy in Education. In L. Livingstone and K. Pothong (Eds) Education Data Futures: Critical Regulatory and Policy Futures. 5RightsFoundation. Online.
Bakir, V., Ghotbi, N., Ho, T.M,. Laffer, A., Mantello, P., McStay, A., Miranda, D., Miyashita, H., Podoletz, L., Tanaka, H., Urquhart, L. (2022) ‘Emotional AI in Cities Cross-cultural Lessons from the UK and Japan on Designing for an Ethical Life’. In Carta, S. (Ed.) Machine Learning and the City: Applications in Architecture and Urban Design. Wiley.
McStay, A. & Urquhart, L. (2022) In Cars (Are We Really n Cars (Are We Really Safest of All?): Interior Sensing and Emotional Opacity, International Review of Law, Computers & Technology.
McStay, A. (2021) Emotional AI, ethics, and Japanese spice: contributing community, wholeness, sincerity, and heart, Philosophy & Technology.
Bakir, V. & McStay, A. (2021) Emotional AI and Empathic Technologies: Implications of an Ontology of Mediated Emotion. Data Justice Conference. Cardiff University, May 2021 [Conference video paper]
McStay, A. & Rosner, G. (2021) Emotional Artificial Intelligence in Children’s Toys and Devices: Ethics, Governance and Practical Remedies, Big Data & Society.
McStay, A. & Rosner, G. (2020) “Emotoys”: Ethics, Emotions and Empathic Technologies, In A. Malinowska (Ed) Data Dating. Bristol: Intellect.
Bakir, V. & A.McStay. (2020) Empathic Media, Emotional AI and the Optimization of Disinformation. In M. Boler and E. Davis (eds.) Affective Politics of Digital Media: Propaganda by Other Means. New York: Routledge. (Book description)
McStay, A. (2020) Emotional AI, Soft Biometrics and the Surveillance of Emotional life: An Unusual Consensus on Privacy, Big Data & Society. 1–12. Click here.
McStay, A. (2020) Emotional AI: A societal challenge (a short vision paper), Kenniscentrum Data & Maatschappij. click HERE.
McStay, A. (2019) Emotional AI and EdTech: serving the public good? Learning, Media and Technology. pre-print here and formatted article here.
McStay, A. and Urquhart, L. (2019) ‘This time with feeling?’ Assessing EU data governance implications of out of home appraisal based emotional AI. First Monday. Click Here.
McStay, A. (2018) Emotional AI: The Rise of Empathic Media. London: Sage. click here for sample chapter.
McStay, A. (2017) An Ethical Intervention into Conscious Cities, Conscious Cities. Click here.
Bakir, V. and McStay, A. (2017) Fake News and the Economy of Emotions: Problems, Causes, Solutions, Digital Journalism. Click here.
McStay, A. (2017) Privacy and the Media. London: Sage. (See chapter 10 Empathic media: towards ubiquitous emotional intelligence).
McStay, A. (2017) Quantifying the Emotional Self, Privacy Laws and Business, 16-17.
Bakir, V., Feilzer, M. and McStay, A. (2016) Introduction to Special Theme Veillance and transparency: A critical examination of mutual watching in the post-Snowden, Big Data era, Big Data & Society, 4(1): https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/2053951717698996
McStay, A. (2017) “Micro-moments, Liquidity, Intimacy and Automation: Developments in Programmatic Ad-Tech”. In G. Siegert and M.B. von Rimscha (Eds) Commercial communication in the digital age – information or disinformation? Berlin: De Gruyter. Click here.
McStay, A. (2017) "The Mood of Information in an Age of Empathic Media". In J.F. Hamilton, R. Bodle and E. Korin (eds) Explorations in Critical Studies of Advertising, p. 235-247. New York: Routledge. Click here.
McStay, A. (2016) Empathic media and advertising: Industry, policy, legal and citizen perspectives (the case for intimacy), Big Data & Society, (pre-publication): 1-11. Click here.
McStay, A. (2016) Digital Advertising (2nd ed). London: Palgrave-Macmillan. (See Chapter 11 on 'Emotiveillance')
Bakir, V. and McStay, A. (2016) Theorising Transparency Arrangements: Assessing Interdisciplinary Academic and Multi-Stakeholder Positions on Transparency in the post-Snowden Leak Era, Ethical Space: Journal of Communication, 3(1): 24-31
McStay, A. (2014) Privacy and Philosophy: New Media and Affective Protocol. New York: Peter Lang. (See chapter 7 on Heidegger, moods and empathic media)
McStay, A. (2013) Creativity and Advertising: Affect, Events and Process. London: Routledge.
McStay, A. (2012) I Consent: An Analysis of the Cookie Directive and its Implications for UK Behavioural Advertising. New Media and Society. 15(4), 596-611.McStay, A. (2011) The Mood of Information. New York: Continuum.
McStay, A. (2009) Digital Advertising. London: Palgrave-Macmillan.
McStay, A. (2007) Regulating the Suicide Bomber: A Critical Examination of Viral Advertising and Simulations of Self-Broadcasting. Ethical Space: Journal of Communication. 4(1/2), 40-48.
McStay, A. & Bakir, V. (2006) Privacy, Online Advertising and Marketing Techniques: The Paradoxical Disappearance of the User. Ethical Space: Journal of Communication. 3(1), 24-31.

Book chapters

Urquhart, L. & McStay, A. (forthcoming/2023) "Creating Trustworthy Human Machine Interactions in Cars: The Case of Regulating Emotional Artificial Intelligence" in Cambridge Handbook on Law, Policy, and Regulations for Human-Robot Interaction.
McStay, A. & Bakir, V. (2023) "Automating empathy: overview, technologies, criticism" in Handbook of Critical Studies of Artificial Intelligence.
McStay, A. & Rosner, G. (2021 [in press]) ““Emotoys”: Ethics, Emotions and Empathic Technologies” In A. Malinowska (Ed) Data Dating. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press
Bakir, V. & A.McStay. (2020) Empathic Media, Emotional AI and the Optimization of Disinformation. In M. Boler and E. Davis (eds.) Affective Politics of Digital Media: Propaganda by Other Means. New York: Routledge.
McStay, A. (2018) “The Significance of AdTech: Programmatic Platforms, Identity and Moments”. In J. Hardy, I. MacRury and H. Powell (Eds) The Advertising Handbook, 4th ed. London: Routledge.
McStay, A. (2017) “Micro-moments, Liquidity, Intimacy and Automation: Developments in Programmatic Ad-Tech”. In G. Siegert and M.B. von Rimscha (Eds) Commercial communication in the digital age – information or disinformation? Berlin: De Gruyter. Link: https://www.degruyter.com/downloadpdf/books/9783110416794/9783110416794-009/9783110416794-009.pdf
McStay, A. (2017) "The Mood of Information in an Age of Empathic Media". In J.F. Hamilton, R. Bodle and E. Korin (eds) Explorations in Critical Studies of Advertising, p. 235-247. New York: Routledge.
McStay, A. (2017) “Privacy”. In B, Arrigo (ed.) The SAGE Encyclopaedia of Surveillance, Security, and Privacy. New York: Sage.
McStay, A. (2017) “Bruno Latour”. In B, Arrigo (ed.) The SAGE Encyclopaedia of Surveillance, Security, and Privacy. New York: Sage.
McStay, A. (2017) “Advertising and Marketing”, B, Arrigo (ed.) The SAGE Encyclopaedia of Surveillance, Security, and Privacy. New York: Sage.
Bakir, V. & McStay, A. (2008) “When the Script runs out … what happens to The Polarised War Body? Deconstructing Western 24/7 News Coverage of Operation Iraqi Freedom 2003”. In K. Randell & S. Redmond (eds.) The War Body on Screen, p. 165-181. Continuum: London. Link: http://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/the-war-body-on-screen-9781441145437/
McStay, A. (2007) “Trust, Data-mining and Instantaneity: The Creation of the Online Accountable Consumer”. In V. Bakir & D. Barlow (eds.) Communication in the Age of Suspicion: Trust and the Media, p. 193-210. Palgrave-Macmillan: London. Link: http://www.palgrave.com/products/title.aspx?is=0230002544

Academic consulting

McStay, A. (2022) ‘Overview of emotion recognition trends, applications and issues of scientific validity’ Ada Lovelace Workshop on AI Act and Emotion Recognition.
McStay, A. (2022) Information Commissioner’s Office expert workshop on biometrics and emotion recognition.
2021 CDEI Roundtables on DCMS Data Reform Consultation
2021 Digital Futures Commission: Roundtables on problems and realising the benefits of processing children’s education data
2021 North Wales Police AI Governance Group
2019 UNICEF, Impacts of Artificial Intelligence on Children Workshop, Helsinki
2019 UK Government Center for Data Ethics and Innovation (advisor on facial recognition technology)
2019 Royal United Services Institute (UK Gov’ defense think tank), workshop on machine learning for law enforcement
2019 Advising UK Government, Open Innovation Group, on online targeting
2019 Nexus Studio in AI ethics installation at London’s Barbican art centre
2019 CognitionX expert advisor
2018-2019 Ofcom, North Wales advisory board
2018 Invited participant: United Nations expert workshop on right to privacy in the digital age.
2018 Advising UK Government Cabinet Office on Social Media and Addiction
2018 Invited witness at UK Parliament, DCMS Committee's oral evidence session on Fake News.
2018 Institute of Electrical & Electronics Engineers Communications reviewer
2018 Expert input on Re-Work AI white paper on Ethical Implications of AI.
2018 Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport Committee's oral evidence session on Fake News
2017 House of Parliament presentation on development of fake news and branded content
2016 Open Rights Group, academic advisor on data protection
2016 Ethics, Privacy and Advisory Board Member for Sensing Feeling (a retail project on emotional AI)
2015 UK Government, Office for Science, ‘Understanding Influence’ workshop/report.
2015 Information Commissioner’s Office, advisor and member of the Policy Delivery department.
2015 Committee of Advertising Practice, advisor on ethics of emotion-sensitive technology
2015 Internet Advertising Bureau (Europe), advisor on ethics in digital advertising
2015 By invitation, Expert Discussion on Adblocking, European Parliament, Brussels

Academic advising and examining

2021: Ada Love Lace/RCA workshop on responsible and ethical AI to formula next round of AHRC AI funding.
2021-ongoing Senate membership, Bangor University.
2020-2023: Advisory Board for PATH-AI (The Alan Turing Institute, University of Edinburgh and RIKEN in Japan)2018: co-production of white paper to shape European Commission’s (EC) research agenda on the internet's impact on echo chambers, fake news and populism (H2020 framework and FP9).
2017-current: External Examiner, Goldsmiths, MA Advertising & Promotional Culture
2017-current: Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) reviewer
2016-current: AHRC Peer College/panel member
2016-2017: MSA (Egypt)/University of Bedfordshire, BA Mass Comms, Advertising and PR
2014-current: External Examiner: Falmouth University, BA Creative Advertising
2013-current: International Assessor: Research Foundation Flanders.

Artwork

Aura (2019): Academic advisor & co-producer, McStay. Lead artist, Ronan Devlin. Based on McStay’s emotional AI work, this is been shown in Leeds, Salford, Lancaster and London (Canary Wharf). Approx. 100,000 in-person views.
Nexus Studio, ‘Meet the AI’ at London Barbican: I advised Nexus Studios’ installation at ‘Meet the AI’ (positively reviewed by The Times, Financial Times, Evening Standard, Artlyst, Artnet, British GQ). Key advising was on ethics, bias, gender and need for explainability of training algorithms and data processes.
Veillance (2017): Team McStay, Ronan Devlin (lead artist), Vian Bakir (academic), Ant Dickinson (sound), Carwyn Edwards (software), Michael Flückiger (graphics) and Gillian Jein (academic).

Media

Scientific American, Washington Post, GQ, Financial Times, The Sun, New York Post, The Guardian, The Independent, The Telegraph, The Register, ABC Radio (Australia), Canal+ (France), RTV Slovenia, BBC Futures (USA), BBC Radio 4, BBC Wales, BBC Worldwide, NBC news (USA). Writing includes: Information Week, Information Age, WPP, ESOMAR, Privacy & Business Law and The Conversation.

Audio

ABC Australia (2021) Future Tense, The positive side of monitoring.
Queen Mary History of Emotions (2022) Emotional AI.
Critical Technology podcast (2022) Kids and Emotional AI.
The Machine Ethics Podcast (2022) Emotion detection with Andrew McStay
CityScape podcast (2020) McStay interview on the ethical implications of the deployment of emotional AI in smart cities