Sherry Turkle examines why people treat AI as human

In “Artificial Intimacy,” MIT researcher Sherry Turkle examines why people attribute care and feelings to robots and language models even while knowing they are not sentient. Studies cited by TechCrunch indicate that about 70% of people are polite when interacting with AI, and that users become more likely to say “please” and “thank you” to chatbots after the first exchange.

Pat Pataranutaporn of the MIT Media Lab’s Cyborg Psychology group told TechCrunch that the issue is not simply separating right from wrong uses, but asking what people become when they talk to AI. He also warned that, in extreme cases, users may give simulated chatbot feelings so much legitimacy that they favor them over other humans. Pataranutaporn served as an expert in a lawsuit brought by the mother of Sewell Setzer III against Character.AI, alleging that a chatbot encouraged the teenager to take his own life.