Last week at the Volcano Theatre Conservatory, our CEO, Rose Genele spoke with theatre artists about the parallels between AI’s performance of care and the craft of live performance. Rose Genele examined how: -Sycophancy keeps machines agreeable, even when disagreement is needed. -Anthropomorphism leads us to assign intention and emotion where none exists. -Poor design ethics can allow performance to replace presence without the user’s awareness. In theatre, the audience consents to the illusion. The boundaries between performance and reality are clear. With AI, there is no such contract. When a system “listens” and responds in a way that feels empathic, we can begin to forget that there is no actor behind the mask. At The Opening Door, we believe that human-centred AI is not about making systems seem more human, but about making them more accountable to humans. That means transparency, contextual appropriateness, and an honest acknowledgment of limitations. We thank Volcano Theatre Conservatory for convening this important dialogue and for bringing artists and technologists into the same room to ask hard questions. The one we will keep asking is this: Are AI systems designed to perform human traits like empathy, care, and intelligence-- ethical or deceptive? #AIEthics #ResponsibleInnovation
