Does Explicitly Stating ‘AI Lacks Consciousness’ Increase Anthropomorphic Perceptions

Abstract

Machines are thinking, but do they actually know they are thinking? That’s what Alan Turing says. Today's machines working in the human world make us think about different aspects of human existence. With the emergence of Generative AI & its radical transformation, human interactions with Artificial Intelligence have consequently increased. These increased interactions lead the users to tend to “humanize” or attribute “human-like” traits/qualities to AI tools, termed as Anthropomorphism. The present study aimed to explore whether explicitly informing users that ‘AI lacks consciousness’ can alter the already existing view of Anthropomorphism among them. The study is grounded in the concept of “Psychological Reactance”, suggesting that when told ‘AI lacks consciousness’, it paradoxically heightens the perceptions of Anthropomorphism, Likeability & Perceived Intelligence in AI among them. For this, data was collected from people ranging from ages 18 to 30 years, regularly using AI and randomly assigning them to two groups: Group A, told explicitly that ‘AI lacks consciousness’ and no such warnings to Group B. The Godspeed Questionnaire Series (Bartneck et al.) sub-scales, specifically Likeability, Perceived Intelligence & Anthropomorphism, were used to measure the differences of perception between the two groups. The findings of the study are expected to contribute to a better understanding of how the provision of explicit information or ‘warnings’ affects perceptions of people towards AI.