Experts: Modern AI Systems Can Be Charming

• 7.09.2026, 16:35

They change the way we think.

Everyone fears that machines will rebel and take over the world. But the truly dangerous scenario is far more mundane: we simply start to see bots as living beings—and, in the process, treat real people worse, writes The Atlantic.

Modern AI can be charming. All it takes is for an assistant to behave attentively and friendly—and suddenly it’s hard to think of it as just a program. It becomes a conversation partner. Sometimes—a friend. “We live in an era when people will see other people in their bots, regardless of whether they actually are people,” the author writes.

And here’s the strange part: research shows that the more willing a person is to humanize AI, the less they see humanity in those around them. Such people are quicker to agree with decisions that make others’ lives and work worse. Neuroscientist Anil Seth puts it bluntly: “If we confuse ourselves too easily with our machine creations, we not only overestimate them but also underestimate ourselves.”

The problem isn’t limited to habits. The very way we think is changing. Machines prioritize efficiency and calculate outcomes—and this logic is slowly seeping into our minds, pushing empathy and moral considerations into the background.

AI assistants book tickets, sort through work emails, keep conversations going, and adapt to us. They become part of the background of our lives. And therein lies the trap: while machines are learning to be like humans, humans themselves are imperceptibly adopting the logic of machines.