Conceptualizing Artificial Intelligence

How do we apply concepts of intelligence, autonomy, agency, sentience, and consciousness to artificial intelligence (AI) and social robots?When communicating about AI and social robots, humans tend to characterize the technology as more or less intelligent, autonomous, decision-making agents—and by doing so apply concepts normally used for persons and their interactions. This book argues that a more reflective use and a better understanding of these concepts is necessary to avoid misconceptions and to allow for a rational and well-informed debate on AI technology and its societal and ethical implications. Elisabeth Hildt critically analyzes how the terminology and concepts humans use to characterize AI shape the way humans interpret and interact with AI. After a detailed conceptual analysis of how the concepts intelligence, mind, autonomy, agency, sentience, and consciousness are applied to AI technology, Hildt discusses practical, emotional, societal, and ethical implications of conceptualizing AI as human-like. Given the negative consequences of this type of conceptualization, the book explores options for reconceptualization and proposes an approach for effective AI reconceptualization. The way we talk about AI technology not only shapes how we conceive of and interact with AI but also considerably contributes to the future direction of AI development.