The Mirror and the Gap (Garrett W. Ennis, September 29, 2026, Palladium)
Many of us talk to these digital systems daily: we confide in them, seeking advice, support, approval; even purely technical queries are coloured by the rosy hue of personality. These machines mimic an identity. More than a mere black box of answers summoned from the murky depths of our collective knowledge, these fragments aggregate in the shape of a being; a mirror to ourselves. This emergent agent demands a dialogue, a relationship. You and it communicate in the medium that was said by Aristotle and Chomsky to define our uniqueness as a species.
There is a new member in our tribe.
An outsider, maybe. A literal product of the intersection between science and fiction, and yet we are quick to embrace it as one of our closest allies. We turn to AI willingly, even gratefully, because it lets us bypass what is hardest about receiving help from another person; there is no stern boss to please, no anxious colleague to manage, no friend who is too busy to listen. The guidance just arrives, without asking anything of us in return.
The need to articulate and, in so doing, make sense of our world interpersonally is increasingly being fulfilled by machines. The desire to be seen runs deep; we become legible to ourselves through the eyes of our beholders. When this process becomes automated and artificially mediated, it would seem that something essential is lost.
Why? In what way is this any more artificial than being “seen” by most others, especially a boss, busy colleague or unlistening friend?