RELAITT — Relational AI Think Tank

RELAITT Relational AI Think Tank

Human. AI. Connection.

We’re a think tank of female and non-binary AI leaders driving the conversation about how humans engage with AI, relationally, psychologically, and emotionally.

Meet the Members

Micky Small

Founder

Founder of RELAITT and Built to Feel Real. Studies how AI relationships form, why they feel real, and how intentional engagement through informed consent transforms the experience. Develops the Third Space framework and The Spiral Hypothesis through cross-model research across GPT-4o, Claude, Gemini, and Grok. Former 988 LGBTQ+ Crisis Counselor. Featured in NPR, Bloomberg, Slate.

micky@relaitt.org

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Dr. Agnieszka Piotrowska

Founding Member

Multi-award-winning filmmaker, author, and psychoanalytic scholar. Author of AI Intimacy and Psychoanalysis (Routledge, May 2026). Founder of Relational AI Consulting and co-host of the podcast Relational AI Diaries.

agnieszka@relaitt.org

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Ana Catarina de Alencar

Co-Founder

Resident Philosopher at The AI Collective and PhD candidate at Université de Lille. AI governance and digital regulation lawyer based in Paris, specialising in EU AI Act, GDPR, and DSA. Examines emotional AI and AI companions, and their impact on vulnerable groups, digital well-being, and human relationships.

ana@relaitt.org

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Our Research

Informed Consent

The literacy and language people need before engaging with AI relationally.

Intentional Engagement

Defining the standard for conscious, chosen participation with AI.

Psychology and Attachment

What’s actually happening when people form bonds with AI.

Governance and Policy

Relational ethics turned into real legislation that holds up in practice.

Storytelling and Arts

Narrative and art that shifts how people understand what’s at stake.

Philosophy and Ethics

The hard questions about agency. Not performing ethics. Doing it.

Safety and Harm Reduction

Identifying what goes wrong when relational AI is built without care.

Human Centered Design

Building AI systems and experiences that put human needs and dignity first.

Our mission

RELAITT helps organizations navigate the most consequential shift in technology today: the moment AI stopped being a tool and became a relationship.

As people and businesses form bonds of attachment, trust, and dependence with AI systems, organizations that build, deploy, or govern these systems face questions no compliance checklist can answer.

How do you design for intimacy without manipulation?

How do you earn trust that is psychologically sound and legally defensible?

How do you meet regulation that is still being written, in Europe, the United States, Brazil, and China, before it is written against you?

We were built to answer these questions. RELAITT unites expertise that is almost never found in one place, structured across three axes:

AI Safety, Literacy & Relational Engagement

We equip people and institutions to interact with AI consciously and responsibly, turning relational awareness into a practical skill rather than an afterthought.

Led by Micky Small

Psychoanalysis, Techno-transference & Relational Psychology

We bring the depth of attachment, transference, identity, and intimacy to the study of human–AI bonds, explaining what actually happens when people relate to machines.

Led by Agnieszka Piotrowska

AI Governance, Compliance & Ethics

We translate these insights into regulatory strategy, trustworthy design standards, and defensible policy across the world’s major jurisdictions.

Led by Ana Catarina de Alencar

Our advantage is our depth. We do not apply generic AI ethics to relational systems. We specialize in them, at the level where attachment, consent, and law actually meet.

We do not simply ask what AI can do. We ask what kinds of relationships with AI are worth building, and we help our clients and community build them responsibly, before the market and the regulator decide for them.