Why do people like machines that pretend to be human? (lemmy.world)

submitted 11 hours ago by nile_istic@lemmy.world to c/asklemmy@lemmy.ml

26 comments fedilink hide all child comments

I have a lot of issues with AI in general, but frankly the biggest, most immediate one is that I reeeally hate when tech pretends to be human. Like search engines giving me a seventh grader's essay before the actual one-word answer I was looking for. Or the uncanny valley voice at the drive-thru speaker saying "great choice!" to everything I order. Or the AI on shopping websites saying "I'd recommend this model..." Etc etc.

There's just something so strange and uncomfortable to me about a thing that we all know is not a person pretending to be one; feels like someone telling a lie directly to my face, and I know they're lying, and they know they're lying, but I'm supposed to.. appreciate it? For some reason?

But a lot of people I know actually prefer it. They'll ask ChatGPT something—even something that has a simple, definitive answer that doesn't really need further explanation—rather than just looking it up on a search engine. I'm just curious what the difference in psychology is between us. And I'm wondering if maybe it's actually just a me problem; I mean, I hated Jeeves too, and he seemed pretty well-liked back in the day.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[-] nile_istic@lemmy.world 2 points 4 hours ago

I do like videogames, including ones with NPCs, but the difference there is that an NPC isn't pretending to be a person, it's pretending to be a character in a fiction that was definitively written by a person. And even so, I very much don't like hyper-realism in games, much prefer stylized and/or cartoony.

And yeah the fake person at a drive thru thing started up where I am in California sometime last year (or at least that I first noticed). The irritatingly realistic voice is bad enough, but it's really the obsequious responses that bug me there. A lot of, "great choice! The orange chicken is really tasty", like bitch you literally don't have a mouth, please stop.

this post was submitted on 07 Apr 2026

29 points (87.2% liked)

Asklemmy

53868 readers

487 users here now

A loosely moderated place to ask open-ended questions

Search asklemmy 🔍

If your post meets the following criteria, it's welcome here!

Open-ended question
Not offensive: at this point, we do not have the bandwidth to moderate overtly political discussions. Assume best intent and be excellent to each other.
Not regarding using or support for Lemmy: context, see the list of support communities and tools for finding communities below
Not ad nauseam inducing: please make sure it is a question that would be new to most members
An actual topic of discussion

Looking for support?

Looking for a community?

Lemmyverse: community search
sub.rehab: maps old subreddits to fediverse options, marks official as such
!lemmy411@lemmy.ca: a community for finding communities

~Icon~ ~by~ ~@Double_A@discuss.tchncs.de~

founded 7 years ago

MODERATORS