Why Do We Treat Machines Like People?

When was the last time you thanked a computer, argued with an automated system, or shared something personal with a chatbot? Increasingly, we interact with technologies as if they were social beings, even when we know they are not.

This workshop draws on anthropological perspectives to explore a simple question: why do we treat machines as social actors, and what does this reveal about how humans relate to one another? Taking everyday social life as a type of stage, the session examines the small cues that make interactions feel natural, trustworthy or unsettling, how machines come to feel convincing, and what happens when those performances falter.

As part of the event, participants will observe a live interaction with a deliberately designed AI character as a prompt for discussion: which features shape how the system is perceived, and why? Participants will then take part in a guided activity, collectively sorting different behaviours and qualities, such as emotional tone, hesitation or conversational rhythm to discuss what is necessary for a system to function, and what exists primarily to create a sense of credibility.

The workshop offers a way to think critically about how social expectations are built into technologies, and how anthropology helps us to notice the assumptions we bring to our digital lives. It closes by turning the lens back on ourselves: which everyday human behaviours resist being learned by machines, and what do these points of resistance reveal about what it means to be human?

Event Venue & Nearby Stays

Chrystal Macmillan Building, The University of Edinburgh, 15a George Square, Edinburgh, United Kingdom

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