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What is it like to encounter an autonomous artificial agent?

  • 25TH ANNIVERSARY VOLUME A FAUSTIAN EXCHANGE: WHAT IS IT TO BE HUMAN IN THE ERA OF UBIQUITOUS TECHNOLOGY?
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Abstract

Following up on Thomas Nagel’s paper “What is it like to be a bat?” and Alan Turing’s essay “Computing machinery and intelligence,” it shall be claimed that a successful interaction of human beings and autonomous artificial agents depends more on which characteristics human beings ascribe to the agent than on whether the agent really has those characteristics. It will be argued that Masahiro Mori’s concept of the “uncanny valley” as well as evidence from several empirical studies supports that assertion. Finally, some tentative conclusions concerning moral implications of the arguments presented here shall be drawn.

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  1. Faculty 1, Mathematics, Natural Sciences and Computer Science, PO Box 101344, 03013, Cottbus, Germany

    Karsten Weber

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  1. Karsten Weber
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Correspondence to Karsten Weber.

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Weber, K. What is it like to encounter an autonomous artificial agent?. AI & Soc 28, 483–489 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00146-013-0453-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00146-013-0453-3

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