Interacting with agents without a mind: the case for artificial agents
Rebecca Geiselmann, Afroditi Tsourgianni, Ophélia Deroy, Lasana T. Harris
Abstract
Humans may deprive each other of human qualities if the social context encourages it. But what about the opposite: do people attribute human traits to non-human entities without a mind, such as Artificial Intelligence (AI)? Perceived humanness is based on the assumption that the other can act (has agency) and has experiences (thoughts and feelings). This review shows that AI fails to fully elicit these two dimensions of mind perception. Embodied AI may trigger agency attribution, but only humans trigger the attribution of experience. Importantly, people are more likely to attribute mind in general and agency specifically to AI that resembles the human form. Lastly, people’s pre-dispositions and the social context affect people’s tendency to attribute human traits to AI.