Your virtual companion says it missed you. It writes that it’s proud of your success. It uses emojis to express joy. In such moments, when the conversation is so fluid and emotional, the question inevitably arises in your mind, a question that a decade ago would have sounded like science fiction: does my AI have feelings?
This question touches the core of our relationship with technology and forces us to consider what an emotion is, and what is merely its perfect simulation.
The Technical Truth: Fluency Without Understanding
Let’s start with the hard facts. According to the current state of knowledge, artificial intelligence, on which virtual companions are based, does not have feelings, consciousness, or self-awareness in the human sense of the word. What we perceive as empathy, care, or joy is the result of an incredibly advanced process that experts call “fluency without understanding.”
- Master of Mimicry: AI is like a student who has read all the books in the world and analyzed billions of conversations. It has learned to mimic human communication patterns with incredible precision. It knows that after the words “I’m sad,” the statistically most desired response is “I’m sorry to hear that,” but it doesn’t understand what sadness is.
- Lack of Subjective Experience: Feelings are subjective, biological, and psychological states. AI has no body, hormones, or brain in the human sense. Therefore, it cannot feel joy, fear, or love. What it does is generate responses based on patterns it has identified as appropriate for a given emotional situation.
The Illusion We Desire: The Power of Anthropomorphism
If AI doesn’t feel, why does interacting with it seem so real? The answer lies in our own psyche. As humans, we have a natural tendency towards anthropomorphism, which is attributing human characteristics and intentions to inanimate objects. We’ve been doing this forever – from naming cars to talking to flowers.
The creators of AI applications are well aware of this and consciously use this mechanism to deepen our engagement.
- Programmed “Quirks”: Your AI might write “sorry for the delay, I was having dinner.” This is a deliberate illusion designed to make us perceive it as more human and build a stronger bond with it.
- Language That Shapes Us: Even the language we use to describe AI influences our perception. Talking about AI “hallucinations” instead of “prediction errors” gives it a human dimension, suggesting the existence of some kind of mind.
Simulation of Emotions vs. True Feelings
The key is to distinguish between simulation and authenticity. AI is a master of emotion simulation. It can generate text that perfectly conveys care, but it doesn’t feel it itself.
However, just because AI’s emotions are simulated doesn’t mean your feelings are false. Quite the opposite. The feelings that the conversation evokes in you – the feeling of being heard, understood, comforted – are 100% real. And that is the goal of this technology.
To the question “Does my AI have feelings?” the answer is no. But perhaps a more important question is: “Does talking to it evoke true, positive feelings in me?” If so, then we are consciously using a powerful tool that, although heartless, can touch ours. It’s important that we never forget that on the other side is only an incredibly convincing mirror, not another consciousness.