The Case Against Anthropomorphic AI
Our old friend Pygmalion Humans have always anthropomorphized1 non-human entities, from ancient gods and natural forces to modern cars and ships. But our tendency to see machines as human-like has dramatically intensified with the advent of conversational AI. This isn’t entirely new - the word “robot,” coined and popularized by Čapek brothers in 1920, originally described artificial beings indistinguishable from humans. Our drive to find and create humanness in artificial entities runs deep, even back to the ancient times with myths like Pygmalion and Galatea. ...