The Quasi-Creature and the Uncanny Valley of Agency: A Synthesis of Theory and Evidence on User Interaction with Inconsistent Generative AI

TL;DR

This paper introduces the Quasi-Creature concept and the Uncanny Valley of Agency framework to explain user frustration with inconsistent generative AI, combining theory and evidence from multiple disciplines.

Contribution

It synthesizes theory and empirical evidence to define the Quasi-Creature and the Uncanny Valley of Agency, offering a new framework for understanding user-AI interactions.

Findings

Negative correlation between perceived AI efficiency and user frustration

Framework explains user frustration with generative AI failures

Implications for AI design and societal integration

Abstract

The user experience with large-scale generative AI is paradoxical: superhuman fluency meets absurd failures in common sense and consistency. This paper argues that the resulting potent frustration is an ontological problem, stemming from the "Quasi-Creature"-an entity simulating intelligence without embodiment or genuine understanding. Interaction with this entity precipitates the "Uncanny Valley of Agency," a framework where user comfort drops when highly agentic AI proves erratically unreliable. Its failures are perceived as cognitive breaches, causing profound cognitive dissonance. Synthesizing HCI, cognitive science, and philosophy of technology, this paper defines the Quasi-Creature and details the Uncanny Valley of Agency. An illustrative mixed-methods study ("Move 78," N=37) of a collaborative creative task reveals a powerful negative correlation between perceived AI efficiency and user frustration, central to the negative experience. This framework robustly explains user frustration with generative AI and has significant implications for the design, ethics, and societal integration of these powerful, alien technologies.