Skyler Wang

📢 NEW PUB! @nedcpr, @margaret_eby, and I wrote this last Spring to theorize the disorienting impact ChatGPT has on social institutions & norms. 2 years later, everything feels different, but many aspects of AI development remain the same. Read more here: journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/20…

Spoke with @julieebeck from @TheAtlantic a few months ago about the rise of AI companionship & friendship. Her piece is out today—featuring my work on “on-demand intimacy” and a ton of cool research into this emerging phenomenon. theatlantic.com/family/2026/03…

This work directly shapes how opportunity, hiring, and careers function at scale. The “future of work” isn’t just a buzzword for me—it’s something I care about both intellectually and personally.

This week, I flew to San Francisco to start a part-time Research Scientist role with HART (Handshake AI Research Team). @joinHandshake focuses on expert and professional data that underpins today’s frontier systems.

@xutai_ma Good luck Xutai can’t wait to see what you build!!!

After nearly six years at Meta FAIR (3 years as a student researcher and then 3 years as a full-time research scientist), I’ve decided to begin a new chapter: building a startup. FAIR has been far more than a place to work to me. During my time there, I had the privilege of contributing to projects such as Seamless Streaming Translation and Llama 4 Full-Duplex Speech, working alongside exceptional colleagues on problems I deeply care about. As I move forward, I will still focus on voice AI.  There’s been a lot of progress lately in this domain, but today’s voice AI still doesn’t quite talk like people do. Voice is the most natural way of communication, and I aim to build the next generation voice agent could really change how we interact with AI. If you are working in or interested in the voice AI space, I would be happy to connect and exchange thoughts, so feel free to reach out. I have also recently moved from New York to San Francisco and look forward to meeting more people in the Bay Area.

Thank you to everyone who attended the McCAIS Annual Symposium last week! Researchers, students, industry partners and community members from across #McGill and beyond were present for a full day of conversations at the intersection of #AI and society.

I am currently developing a large-scale longitudinal project that looks at the impact of AI companions on users' relational expectations and experiences (with both human and AI companions). Please contact me if you'd like to collaborate.

From this perspective, AI companions are not failed substitutes for “real” intimacy, but a distinctive relational form shaped by the same on-demand infrastructures that organize much of contemporary social and economic life.

If you are curious about why AI companions are so gripping for many people, you should read my 📢 new paper 📢 with @MarcoDehnert in @SocialMedia_Soc—"On-Demand Intimacy: The Sociotechnical Appeal of AI Companions." journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/20…

📢 Excited to share our new work on Omnilingual ASR—automatic speech recognition for 1,600+ languages, out of the box. Unlike past systems with fixed coverage, it can adapt to entirely new languages from just a few in-context examples. 🌍🗣️ Paper here: ai.meta.com/research/publi…

University of @mcgillu professor and @Meta researcher, Skyler Wang, studies intimacy and how tech reshapes human connection. He’s seen #AI shift from chatbots to tools to agents. The next phase? Companionship. This isn’t about function. It’s about relationships.

Great week in London with @thought_channel, leading a session on AI safety, and learned how the UK does AI research differently. Then off to Cambridge for a talk on digital intimacy, followed by punting, a pub hang, and some brilliant conversations with students and faculty.

@thought_channel That wraps day two at the AE Global Summit on Open Problems for AI by @thought_channel. From regulatory frameworks to infrastructure access, we're unpacking the real pressures shaping how #AI gets built & deployed. Earlier, Nick sat down with @skylrwang to discuss what's next.

Excited to be in London this week for this. See you soon friends!

🦺AE Global Summit Session Spotlight: AI x Safety Day 2 will begin with our flagship session on AI x Safety, chaired by our very own Chief Ethical Officer, Prof. @skylrwang, and featuring keynotes from Prof. Christopher Summerfield (@AISecurityInst & @UniofOxford) and Prof. @richardsusskind. Prof. @skylrwang is Assistant Professor at @mcgillu and Research Scientist at @Meta, and has brought together many of the UK’s leading thinkers to explore the interconnected and complex themes of AI Safety, Ethics, and Enterprise Risk. After the keynotes, Skyler will lead a panel on “AI Safety: An Insider’s Perspective,” to introduce the key themes and organisations in AI Safety, featuring Dr Abhishek Mishra (@faculty_ai), Dr @ArtemisSeaford — (@elevenlabs), Dr @MariusHobbhahn (@apolloaievals), David Sully (@AdvaiLtd), @davidad (@aria_research). Come and learn more about this new, critical field, and lend your voice to the debate (link in comments below) 👇 #AI #openproblems #ThinkingAboutThinking