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

Fuente: arXiv
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Auteurs principaux: Babel, Franziska, Saunderson, Shane, Rismani, Shalaleh
Format: Preprint
Publié: 2026
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author Babel, Franziska
Saunderson, Shane
Rismani, Shalaleh
author_facet Babel, Franziska
Saunderson, Shane
Rismani, Shalaleh
contents 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 naïve (e.g., as a default) nor exploitive (e.g., for economic benefit).
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2604_15418
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Towards A Framework for Levels of Anthropomorphic Deception in Robots and AI
Babel, Franziska
Saunderson, Shane
Rismani, Shalaleh
Human-Computer Interaction
Computers and Society
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 naïve (e.g., as a default) nor exploitive (e.g., for economic benefit).
title Towards A Framework for Levels of Anthropomorphic Deception in Robots and AI
topic Human-Computer Interaction
Computers and Society
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2604.15418