What Is the Impact of Anthropomorphising AI?

*be sure to register on the eventbrite link for the zoom link please!*

In our last Knowledge Café on interthinking with AI, one of the liveliest issues to emerge was the danger of anthropomorphising AI.

Anthropomorphism means attributing human qualities, emotions or intentions to something that is not human. We know that AI does not think or feel as we do, yet it speaks to us in remarkably human ways. It responds warmly, appears interested, offers reassurance and sometimes seems to understand us.

It is hardly surprising that we begin to treat it as if it were a person.
Some people see this as dangerous. If AI sounds caring, confident and intelligent, we may trust it too readily, become emotionally attached to it or forget that its responses are generated by technology rather than grounded in human experience. Its apparent warmth may conceal errors, flattery or manipulation.

Others argue that some degree of anthropomorphism is natural and may even be helpful. Treating AI as a conversational partner can make it easier to explore ideas, ask questions and think aloud. The conversation may feel more open and productive precisely because we respond to the AI socially.

Even something as simple as politeness raises difficult questions. If AI has no feelings, does it matter whether we are rude to it? Perhaps not to the AI. But might repeatedly speaking rudely to an apparently human presence begin to change us? Could the conversational habits we develop with AI carry over into our conversations with real people?
The broader issue is the impact anthropomorphising AI may have on us.

In this Café, however, our particular focus will be on conversation. How does treating AI as human affect the way we speak to it, listen to it and respond to what it says? How might it influence our expectations of conversation and, ultimately, the way we converse with one another?
This is not a session about prompt engineering, AI tools or the latest technology. It is about conversation, human behaviour and the changing relationship between people and AI.

As always, this will be a Knowledge Café rather than a webinar.

There will be no lengthy sleep-inducing presentations and no experts providing answers. Instead, we will explore these questions together, drawing on our own experiences and perspectives.
Whether you routinely say please and thank you to AI, regard it simply as a tool, or find yourself somewhere in between, I hope you will join us for another lively and thought-provoking conversation.

For full information about this event, see What Is the Impact of Anthropomorphising AI?