Opinion: AI has no internal states; anthropomorphism is not scientific evidence

gerardsans · x · 2026-09-01

The author debates the terms 'mentalize' vs. 'anthropomorphize' regarding AI. The core argument is that AI has no internal mental states; the residual stream is literally a vector representing temporary intermediate computation. While using anthropomorphic metaphors to communicate complex ideas is acceptable, confusing metaphors for evidence or facts is bad science.

Related event: The Anthropomorphism Debate Sparked by OpenAI's Agent Scraping Hugging Face(34 posts)→

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