Frontier Research Institute for Interdisciplinary Sciences
Tohoku University

Humans are known to form a certain level of trust and affinity toward others simply because the interaction partner is perceived to be human, even prior to any actual interaction. This phenomenon is thought to arise from the expectation that the interaction partner should have humanity (personality, values, intelligence, and morality etc.). The ability to perceive such humanity is considered fundamental to social behavior; however, it also has negative aspects. For instance, it is known that trust and affinity rapidly decline when the interaction partner is perceived as unsociable. This is thought to result from the violation of the expected humanness. Such mechanisms may underlie real-world phenomena in which advice from experts (e.g., physicians, teachers) is undervalued or dismissed.

Despite its importance, the question of what kinds of entities humans perceive as possessing humanity remains an open area of research. One reason for this gap is the difficulty in disentangling humanity from animacy. To address this issue, the present study focuses on artificial intelligence (AI), which, although non-biological, exhibits behavior perceived as intelligent. By comparing neural activity during interactions with human versus AI partners, this study aims to dissociate humanity from animacy.

This research has the potential to contribute to the resolution of social problems—such as discrimination and social disconnection—that may stem from reduced perception of humanity in others. Furthermore, it may provide novel insights into the development of AI systems that are perceived as trustworthy.

This study is a collaborative effort between Dr. Hamamoto (Frontier Research Institute for Interdisciplinary Sciences, Tohoku University), who has conducted extensive research on social cognition using cognitive neuroscience approaches, and Dr. Kagawa (Artificial Intelligence Research Center, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology), who has been involved in the development of decision-support AI systems.