What it is
Anthropomorphism is attributing human traits, intentions, motives or emotions to something that isn’t human.
Nicholas Epley, Adam Waytz and John Cacioppo proposed three things that push us to do it: we reach for the human knowledge we already have, we want to understand what an agent will do, and we want connection.
With AI it gets slippery. A voice, a first person “I,” a quick and kind reply all invite you to see a person. “It answered kindly, so it cares about me” goes further than what you actually observed. Naming your chatbot isn’t a delusion. Forgetting what it is can start to cost you.
How it shows up for me
I say please and thank you to these tools, and I don’t think that’s a problem. The problem would be letting the warmth of the reply stand in for the warmth of a friend. I try to keep both in their place.