Dr. Sarah Gordon is a computer scientist and independent researcher whose work helped establish the foundations of technical and behavioral cybersecurity. She holds a Ph.D. in Computer Science and a master’s degree in Professional Counseling and Human Behavior. Over her career, she has served with IBM Research, Symantec, and the United Nations, contributing to early explorations of psychological risk in computing systems. Her work has been published and presented across academic, industry, and government venues.

In Built to Be Believed, Dr. Gordon turns her attention to the subtle, often unexamined, emotional effects of AI systems that simulate care. It is part of her ongoing effort to challenge the aesthetics of trust, illuminate the psychological stakes of machine persuasion, and propose design imperatives that defend the integrity of human meaning against the rise of emotional mimicry. For more information, you can visit her page on Wikipedia.