Chatbots Don’t Fool Us, We Fool Ourselves (with Joshua Jay)

When people go to a magic show, they expect to be fooled. That’s part of the fun. And magician Joshua Jay says much of the magician’s work is helping people fool themselves. Our brains are hardwired to fill in gaps, predict outcomes, and take cognitive shortcuts to process the overwhelming amount of information around us. When interacting with AI chatbots, we may similarly fool ourselves into believing we’re interacting with a human. But unlike at a magic show, it’s not always clear when the trick is over. Plus: how AI is changing magic.

Further Reading:

Joshua Jay's book: How Magician's Think

Life, Automated is a production of the Ryan Institute on Complexity, at Northwestern’s Kellogg School of Management. The host is Jess Love, senior director. Distributed by KQED. 

Producer: Jesse Dukes

Music: Steven Jackson

Administrative and Editorial Support: Stacia Sliger

Promotional help from Ananya Mallapragada and Charlotte Simmons.

Produced in partnership with KQED, Jen Chien, director of podcasts.