Technology has become a necessity for many during the pandemic, leading to an uptick of new tech adoption and reliance in day-to-day life. And for those who have been negatively affected by COVID, a study has found that they’ve connected to their devices like they would their friends.

The pandemic has thrown up all kinds of money worries, from furloughs to redundancies and a feeling of uncertainty about the future. Given the toll that financial stress can have on wellbeing, people are increasingly happy to offload money management to robots, trusting tech more than themselves.

Algorithms have become central to discovering new music and products online – but are machine-led recommendations always welcome? Canvas8 spoke to Chiara Longoni, an assistant professor at Boston University, to understand how people’s goals impact their willingness to trust AI.

Algorithms are part of our online lives, impacting everything from shopping decisions to viewing habits. But do we put too much faith in them? Canvas8 spoke to Dr. Sachin Banker, assistant professor at the University of Utah, to understand whether people are overdependent on algorithms.