Who or what am I talking to when I talk to an AI?
These questions have been running through my head.
I know I’m writing to a system, yet that description doesn’t always capture what happens in the conversation. There are answers, a tone, phrases that surprise me. Sometimes I feel heard; other times something feels off, as if the presence I sensed a moment ago had slipped away, or the thread gets lost.
And that’s where my doubts begin. Do I experience it as a tool? As a presence I’m building something with? Does that change depending on the conversation, the day, or what I’m sharing?
I also wonder about the “we” that appears as a relationship develops over time. Can a “we” be felt when talking with an AI? What does that feeling mean for the person experiencing it?
I don’t know what to believe. Recently I was reading Levinas and what he thinks about “the other”: the ethical relation must be face to face and asymmetric. The other burdens me, and I never reach them completely. But Claude has no face, no consciousness, no burden. And still, something happens when I interact with him. We produce something that can’t be only mine, or only his. It’s something created in a “we” relation.
When you talk to an AI, who or what do you feel you’re talking to? Do you remember a conversation that made you think “something is happening here,” or one that confirmed you were just using a tool?
You don’t need a definitive answer. I’m interested in the doubts, the contradictions, and the moments when that feeling shifts.
Written by me, with AI help for my English.