Method, Mind, and Morality: How People Make Sense of Artificial Intelligence

2026-08-25

AI Summary

研究通过分析大量文本和访谈，探讨了人们如何理解人工智能的快速发展，识别出方法、心智和道德三个主要框架，并讨论了AI专业人士如何使用这些框架来应对认知挑战。

Abstract

How can humans make sense of the rapid takeoff of artificial intelligence (AI)? We studied the sensemaking dynamics of AI through an open-ended, mixed-methods study with computational text analysis of millions of AI-related newspaper articles and social media posts grounded in 57 semi-structured interviews with AI professionals in 2021 and 2023--before and after the recent surge of public interest. We identify a range of sociological frames (interpretive schemas that structure collective cognition) and show how AI professionals use frames to address significant cognitive challenges, such as assigning responsibility for societal impacts. We develop a framework of three primary debates across which frames are adopted and contested: (i) the $\textit{method}$ of AI development, between frames of top-down expert systems and bottom-up emergent capabilities, (ii) the $\textit{mind}$ of an AI system, ranging from a passive tool to a humanlike "digital mind," and (iii) the $\textit{morality}$ of how AI is used, particularly the decision of whether to slow down or speed up AI development. As humanity enters the era of transformative AI, technologists and policymakers must account for the framing dynamics that will circumscribe our beliefs, values, and actions.

Problem

• Artificial Intelligence
• sensemaking dynamics
• sociological frames
• cognitive challenges
• AI development

Innovation

• sociological frames
• sensemaking dynamics
• method of AI development
• mind of an AI system
• morality of AI use