Towards A Framework for Levels of Anthropomorphic Deception in Robots and AI

TL;DR

This paper proposes a four-level framework for anthropomorphic deception in robots and AI, aiming to guide ethical and appropriate design by considering humanlikeness, agency, and selfhood.

Contribution

It introduces a novel framework categorizing levels of anthropomorphic deception to promote ethical reflection in HCI and HRI design.

Findings

Framework with four levels of anthropomorphic deception defined.

Levels distinguished by humanlikeness, agency, and selfhood.

Illustrative use cases demonstrate ethical considerations.

Abstract

This paper presents a preliminary draft of a framework around the use of anthropomorphic deception, defined here as misleading users towards humanlike affordances in the design of autonomous systems. The goal is to promote reflection among HCI and HRI researchers, as well as industry practitioners, to think about levels of anthropomorphic design that are: a) functionally necessary, b) socially appropriate, and c) ethically permissible for their use case. By reviewing the relevant literature on deception in HCI and HRI, we propose a framework with four levels of anthropomorphic deception. These levels are defined and distinguished by three factors: humanlikeness, agency, and selfhood. Example use cases at each level illustrate considerations around their functional, social, and ethical permissibility. We then present how this framework is applicable to previous work on persuasive robots We hope to promote a balanced view on anthropomorphic deception by design that should be neither na\"ive (e.g., as a default) nor exploitive (e.g., for economic benefit).