# Robots Become Intelligent When People Form Relationships with Them by Sherry Turkle > “In the 1960s through the 1980s, researchers in artificial intelligence took part in what we might call the classical "great AI debates" where the central question was whether machines could be "really" intelligent. This classical debate was essentialist; the new relational objects tend to enable researchers and their public to sidestep such arguments about what is inherent in the computer. Instead, the new objects depend on what people attribute to them; they shift the focus to what the objects evoke in us. When we are asked to care for an object (the robot Kismet, the plaything Furby), when the cared-for object thrives and offers us its attention and concern, people are moved to experience that object as intelligent. Beyond this, they feel a connection to it. So the question here is not to enter a debate about whether relational objects "really" have emotions, but to reflect on a series of issues having to do with what relational artifacts evoke in the user.” > **— Sherry Turkle**, *2000, Edge Annual Question, “What Is Today's Most Important Unreported Story?”* ## Sources and Context - **Direct Edge response and surrounding essay:** [I. A new kind of object: From Rorschach to Relationship](https://www.edge.org/response-detail/10596) — Edge published this exact passage in its 2000 Annual Question collection, *WHAT IS TODAY'S MOST IMPORTANT UNREPORTED STORY?*. The response page preserves the surrounding argument and qualifications. - **Complete local collection index:** [[research/Edge 2000 Full Quotation Curation|Edge 2000 Full Quotation Curation]] — retained source-first record for the complete response cohort and this passage's promotion status. ## Related Articles and Collections - **Collection:** [[collections/Edge|Edge]] - **Collection:** [[collections/Machine Succession|Machine Succession]] - **Article:** [[articles/Modern Artificial Intelligence in the 1970s|AI in the 1970s]] - **Article:** [[articles/Christopher Nolan's Odyssey at the Threshold of Machine Succession|Nolan's Odyssey]] - **Article:** [[articles/Cyber-Physical Lessons from Imperial Beekeeping|Cyber-Physical Beekeeping]] - **Wiki map:** [[wiki/Artificial Intelligence|Artificial Intelligence]] ## Related Topics - [[wiki/Artificial Intelligence|Artificial Intelligence]] - [[wiki/human-machine interaction|human-machine interaction]] - [[wiki/Cybernetic Control|Cybernetic Control]] - [[wiki/Human-Machine Symbiosis|Human-Machine Symbiosis]] ## Share on Social Media ``` “In the 1960s through the 1980s, researchers in artificial intelligence took part in what we might call the classical "great AI debates" where the central question was whether machines could be "really" intelligent. This classical debate was essentialist; the new relational objects tend to enable researchers and their public to sidestep such arguments about what is inherent in the computer. Instead, the new objects depend on what people attribute to them; they shift the focus to what the objects evoke in us. When we are asked to care for an object (the robot Kismet, the plaything Furby), when the cared-for object thrives and offers us its attention and concern, people are moved to experience that object as intelligent. Beyond this, they feel a connection to it. So the question here is not to enter a debate about whether relational objects "really" have emotions, but to reflect on a series of issues having to do with what relational artifacts evoke in the user.” — Sherry Turkle, 2000, Edge Annual Question, “What Is Today's Most Important Unreported Story?” https://bryantmcgill.com/simple-reminders-sherry-turkle-robots-become-intelligent-people-form ```