— Books

Heffernan, Teresa, ed. Cyborg Futures: Cross-Disciplinary Perspectives on Artificial Intelligence and Robotics. Cham, Switzerland: Palgrave Macmillan. 2019.

— Articles and Chapters

Heffernan, Teresa. “Autonomous Weapons in Fiction and the Fiction of Autonomous Weapons.” In The Realities of Autonomous Weapons. Edited by Thomas Christian Bächle and Jascha Bareis. Bristol, UK: Bristol University Press. June 1, 2025. https://bristoluniversitypress.co.uk/the-realities-of-autonomous-weapons.

Heffernan, Teresa. “Orga is not Mecha: How Literal Readings of Fiction are Damaging the World.” Apocalyptica 2, 2 (2023). Published September 12, 2024. https://doi.org/10.17885/heiup.apoc.2023.2.25030.

Heffernan, Teresa. “Rethinking ‘Queer Kin Groups’: Cyborgs, Animals, and Machines.” In Symbiotic Posthumanist Ecologies in Western Literature, Philosophy and Art: Towards Theory and Practice. Edited by Peggy Karpouzou and Nikoleta Zampaki. Berlin: Peter Lang, 2023.

Heffernan, Teresa. “The Imitation Game, the ‘Child Machine,’ and the Fathers of AI.” AI & Society, 25 June 2022. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00146-022-01512-0.

Heffernan, Teresa. “The Dangers of Mystifying Artificial Intelligence and Robotics.” Toronto Journal of Theology, Advance Online, July 02, 2020. https://doi.org/10.3138/tjt-2020-0029

Heffernan, Teresa. “Fiction Meets Science: Ex Machina, Artificial Intelligence and the Robotics Industry.” In Cyborg Futures: Cross-Disciplinary Perspectives on Artificial Intelligence and Robotics. Edited by Teresa Heffernan. Cham, CH: Palgrave Macmillan, 2019.

Heffernan, Teresa. “Fiction Writes Back: ‘Limitless Profit,’ Artificial Intelligence, and the Immortality Industry.” Researcher: European Journal of Humanities & Social Sciences 1, 3: 27–46. http://dx.doi.org/10.32777/r.2020.3.1.2.

Heffernan, Teresa. “A.I. Artificial Intelligence: Science, Fiction and Fairy Tales.” English Studies in Africa 61, 1, 2018: 10-15. https://doi.org/10.1080/00138398.2018.1512192.

Heffernan, Teresa. “The Post-Apocalyptic Imaginary: Science, Fiction, and the Death Drive.” English Studies in Africa 58, 1, 2015: 66-79. Special Issue. https://doi.org/10.1080/00138398.2015.1083198

Asp, Karen. “A.I., Ecology and Existential Risk: A Critique.” In Cyborg Futures: Cross-Disciplinary Perspectives on Artificial Intelligence and Robotics. Edited by Teresa Heffernan. Cham, CH: Palgrave Macmillan, 2019.

— Keynotes, Invited Talks, and Conferences

Heffernan, T. “Mecha is not Orga: The Fiction of AI and the AI Industry.” Digital Humanities Summer Institute Keynote Lecture, Coady International Institute, St. Francis Xavier University, Nova Scotia, May 1, 2024. Video (YouTube)

Heffernan, T. “Artificial Intelligence and the (Post-) Apocalyptic Imaginary.” Lecture, Centre for Apocalyptic and Post-Apocalyptic Studies, University of Heidelberg, November 8, 2022. Video

Heffernan, T. “Mothers of AI? Alan Turing on Ada Lovelace.” Invited Plenary on Misogynistic Algorithms at the Anthropology, AI and the Future of Human Society Virtual Conference, The Royal Anthropological Institute, June 9, 2022.

Heffernan, T. Invited Panelist on the Roundtable “More Than Human. Posthumanism, Human-Technological Relations, and Bioethics,” Brock University, May 4, 2022.

Heffernan, T. “The Idea of the Autonomous Robot Disguises All the Human Labour behind It.” Interview with Lizzie Wright, Imaging Post-Human Care project, December 16, 2021. Video.

Heffernan, T. “Robots,” Episode 49, Words to That Effect: Stories of the Fiction that Shapes Popular Culture. Podcast host Conor Reid in conversation with Dr. Robin Murphy (Texas A&M University) and Dr. Teresa Heffernan (Saint Mary’s University). Podcast.

Heffernan, T. “Cyborg Futures: A Faculty Author Series with Dr. Teresa Heffernan,” Patrick Power Library, SMU, November 20, 2020.

Heffernan, T. “AI, the Immortality Industry, and the Ethics of Death.” Invited lecture. Centre for Ethics. University of Toronto, October 14, 2020. Video.

Heffernan, T. “Mutual Disruption: Humanities vs Artificial Intelligence.” Let’s Get Ethical. November 20, 2019. Podcast.

Heffernan, T. “The Ethical Imagination: Humanities vs. Artificial Intelligence.” Invited lecture. Centre for Ethics. University of Toronto. September 12, 2019. Video.

Heffernan, T. Panel participant in “The Social Implications of Artificial Intelligence.” 2018 Big Thinking Panel. Dalhousie University. November 14, 2018. Invited. Video.

Heffernan, T. “Fiction Meets Science: Ex Machina, Artificial Intelligence and the Robotics Industry.” Paper presented at Hal-Con 2018. October 26, 2018. Invited.

Heffernan, T. “Fiction Writes Back: The 2045 Initiative, Zero K, and the Immortality Industry.” Leeds Centre for Medical Humanities Lecture. May 18, 2018. Invited.

Heffernan, T. “AI and Robotics: Where Fiction and the Industry Intersect.” Paper presented at Responsible Robots: Shaping Our Future With Robotics. Lorentz Center, Leiden, the Netherlands. February 19 – 23, 2018. Invited.

Heffernan, T. “Where Science Meets Fiction: Concerns About the Artificial Intelligence Industry.” Respondent to public lecture by Stan Matwin “Artificial Intelligence: Successes and Challenges.” Automatons: From Ovid to AI. King’s College Public Lecture Series 2018. University of King’s College, Halifax, NS. February 14, 2018. Invited. Video.

Heffernan, T. “Imagining Automatons: Images of Robots in Fiction and Science.” Public lecture presented at Automatons: From Ovid to AI. King’s College Public Lecture Series 2018. January 17, 2018. Video.

Heffernan, T. Panel participant in “Public Debate: AI/Robots and Our Future.”  Acadia University, Wolfville, Nova Scotia. October 19, 2017. Invited. Video.

Heffernan, T. “Which is the Man and Which is the Monster?  Frankenstein, Ex Machina and Twenty-first Century Technoculture.” Paper presented at Film Adaptation: Theory, Practices, Reception. Thessaloniki, Greece. May 25-27, 2017.

Asp, K. “Unnatural Powers: AI, Ecology and the ‘Risks’ of Progress.” Paper presented at Cyborg Futures Workshop. Saint Mary’s University, Halifax, NS. March 31-April 1, 2017.

Heffernan, T. “Coding Life: Frankenstein, Monsters and Robots.” Bristol Festival of Ideas, April 2016. Invited.

Heffernan, T. “Robot Capital, Animals, and Rights Discourse.” Digital Cultures, University of the West of England, April 2016. Invited.

Heffernan, T. “From Petman to Pepper: Robot Emotions and the Deadly Logic of Cuteness.”  The Aesthetics and Affects of Cuteness Conference. University of Amsterdam, October, 2015. Keynote.

Heffernan, T. “Science, Fiction, and the Death Drive.” End Times Colloquium, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa, July 2014. Keynote.

Heffernan, T. “Careless Rights: Humans, Animals, Robots.” Fictions of Threat Workshop, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa, July 2014. Keynote.

Heffernan, T. “Robot Capital, Commodity Fetishism, and Rights Discourse.” Mosaic: A Matter of Life/death, University of Manitoba Winnipeg, October, 2014.

Asp, K. “Mortal Choices: Instrumentality and Freedom in Harraway’s Companion Species Model.” Mosaic: A Matter of Life/death, University of Manitoba Winnipeg, October, 2014.