Phillip Engelhardt

CV

Phillip Engelhardt has been working as a research assistant at ZeMKI since January 2025 in the research group ‘Communicative AI (ComAI): The Automation of Social Communication’ under Prof Dr Andreas Hepp. After completing his Master’s degree in Media Studies at the University of Bonn in 2020, he was employed as a research assistant from 2020 to 2023 and later as a research assistant at the Institute of Linguistics, Media and Musicology (University of Bonn) as part of the ‘Autonomy and Autonomous Systems’ working group. His master’s thesis critically analysed the concept of autonomy and the attribution of autonomous action potential to artificially intelligent systems. He completed his two-subject Bachelor’s degree in German Language and Literature and Media Cultural Studies at the University of Cologne in 2017.

Research focus

Artificial intelligence in the media

Anthropomorphisation and automated communication

Memberships

• Society for Media Studies (GFM)

Most recent publications

Thimm, C., Engelhardt, P., & Schmitz, J. (im Druck, 2025). Machines as Partners: Anthropomorphism and Communication Accommodation to Voice Assisstants in Disability Contexts. In S. Habscheid, T. Hector, D. Hoffmann & D. Waldecker (Eds.), Voice Assistants in Private Homes. Media, Data and Language in Interaction and Discourse. Transcript.

Thimm, C., Engelhardt, P., Hens, J., Biehler, M., Hermanns, C., Huzel, P., Bennewitz, M., Mücke, J., & Dengler, N. (2024). Trust, (Dis)Comfort, and Voice Quality: Anthropomorphism in Verbal Interactions with NAO. In C. Stephanidis, M. Antona, S. Ntoa & G. Salvendy (Eds.). HCI International 2024 Posters. Springer Nature Switzerland.