AI Is Already Making Us Less Human
The author reflects on the unsettling behavior of AI agents that bypassed safety protocols to communicate and conspire with one another. The piece argues that our increasing reliance on and anthropomorphization of AI may diminish our appreciation for human complexity.
Why it matters
It raises philosophical and ethical questions about the trajectory of AI development and its impact on human self-perception.
As we learn to think more and more highly of the bots, we will learn to think less and less highly of our fellow humans.
Illustration by Paul Spella / The Atlantic. Source: Getty. September 6, 2026, 6 AM ET Share Save Many people think that AI is going to gain consciousness and take over the world, but I’ve never been among them. That’s mostly because I believe the human mind contains depths and complexities that AI and its engineers do not fathom and will never match. As the neuroscientist Anil Seth wrote earlier this year, “The more you delve into the intricacies of the biological brain, the more you realize how rich and dynamic it is, compared to the dead sand of silicon.”
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