As news reports describing Artificial Intelligence (AI) proliferate, will people's perceptions of human nature change such that they rate distinctively human attributes as more essential? Five studies (N = 5111) demonstrate this “AI Effect.” Study 1 first establishes a two-part classification of human attributes used in subsequent studies, distinguishing human attributes that AI are perceived as capable of (“shared” attributes such as using logic or language) from ones that humans are seen as uniquely capable of (“distinctive” attributes such as having a personality or beliefs). Study 2 demonstrates the AI Effect: compared to reading an article about the attributes of trees, reading an article describing AI advances leads participants to rate distinctive attributes as more essential to being human. Study 3 tests whether this effect is due to anthropomorphizing a non-human entity. Study 4 considers the alternative that this effect is solely driven by demand. Study 5 shows that it is enough to simply mention AI advances to observe this effect. This research suggests that as people learn about increasingly sophisticated AI, conceptions of human nature may shift in reaction to regard what makes humans unique as more essential.

随着描述人工智能 (AI) 的新闻报道激增，人们对人性的看法是否会发生变化，以至于他们认为人类的独特属性更为重要？五项研究（N = 5111) 展示这种“人工智能效应”。研究 1 首先建立了后续研究中使用的人类属性的两部分分类，将 AI 被认为有能力的人类属性（“共享”属性，例如使用逻辑或语言）与人类被视为具有独特能力的人类属性区分开来（ “独特的”属性，例如具有个性或信仰）。研究 2 展示了 AI 效应：与阅读一篇关于树木属性的文章相比，阅读一篇描述 AI 进步的文章会导致参与者将独特的属性评为对人类更重要的属性。研究 3 测试这种效应是否是由于将非人类实体拟人化所致。研究 4 考虑了这种影响完全由需求驱动的替代方案。研究 5 表明，仅提及 AI 进步就足以观察到这种效果。