Psychologist on Effort, Empathy, and What AI Can't Automate

Michael Inzlicht is a Professor of Psychology at the University of Toronto and a Research Lead at the Schwartz Reisman Institute for Technology and Society. He has been named among the world's most highly cited psychologists four years running (2022–2025). He studies effort: why we avoid it, why we prize it, and what happens when AI promises to eliminate it. His work helped overturn one of psychology's most celebrated findings (ego depletion), including his own studies, and he has argued publicly that science advances by admitting its mistakes. His recent research asks an uncomfortable question: if people rate AI responses as more compassionate than those of human experts, what exactly is our comparative advantage? He speaks about self-control, empathy as effortful choice, scientific self-correction, and how to stay human in a frictionless age. He co-hosts the podcast Two Psychologists Four Beers and writes the Substack Speak Now Regret Later.