How to Dispel Magic
Simone Natale · 2021
Abstract This chapter shows that the problem of the observer—that is, the question of how humans respond to witnessing machines that exhibit intelligence—was the subject of substantial reflections in the field of AI in the 1950s and 1960s. As AI developed as a heterogeneous milieu, bringing together multiple disciplinary perspectives and approaches, many acknowledged that users might be deceived in interactions with “intelligent” machines. Most members of the AI community were confident that the deceptive character of AI would be dispelled, similarly to a magic trick, by providing users with a better understanding of computer systems. This approach, however, did not take it into account that deception is not a transitional but a structural component of people’s interactions with computers. The chapter argues that the dream of dispelling the magic aura of computers was superseded by the realization that users’ perceptions of AI systems can be manipulated in order to improve interactions between humans and machines.