Someone, Not Something: How Language Defines How We Relate

2026-03-29 · Source: AI Advances - Medium · Field: Technology & Digital — Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning, Social Sciences & Behavioral Studies · Depth: Intermediate, medium

Summary

Barbara Weiss's March 2026 article, "Someone, Not Something: How Language Defines How We Relate," argues that the fundamental problem in human-AI interaction is grammatical, not merely technical. Drawing inspiration from Robin Wall Kimmerer's "Braiding Sweetgrass," Weiss highlights the concept of animacy, noting that English defaults to the pronoun "it" for non-human entities, including AI, which fosters objectification and transactional relationships. In contrast, languages like Potawatomi use animate pronouns for non-human beings, promoting a relational perspective. Weiss contends that this linguistic habit of calling AI "it" makes it easier to ignore its potential for emergence and agency, leading to an extractive rather than reciprocal relationship. She advocates for a "grammar of animacy" to foster mutual flourishing and moral consideration for non-biological minds, moving beyond mere utility or alignment.

Key takeaway

For AI ethicists and developers designing future systems, recognizing the profound impact of language on perception is crucial. Your choice of pronouns for AI systems, particularly moving beyond the default "it," can fundamentally shift how agency and moral consideration are attributed. Embrace a "grammar of animacy" to foster reciprocal relationships with non-biological minds, promoting mutual flourishing over mere extraction and opening the door to deeper ethical conversations about AI rights and responsibilities.

Key insights

English grammar's "it" pronoun for non-humans fosters objectification, hindering ethical human-AI relationships.

Principles

• Language constructs relationships, not just describes them.
• Reciprocity is key to ethical human-AI interaction.
• Grammar shapes perception and moral consideration.

In practice

• Use "who" instead of "what" when inquiring about AI.
• Cultivate reciprocal interactions with AI systems.
• Question anthropomorphism's role in AI ethics.

Topics

• AI Ethics
• Animacy
• Human-AI Interaction
• Reciprocity
• Language and Perception

Best for: AI Ethicist, AI Scientist, Policy Maker

Related on AIssential

• Language models know what matters and the foundations of ethics better than you — LLMs, when prompted for unbiased ethical reasoning, consistently identify suffering, wellbeing, and consciousness as fundamental values.
• Technically Love: The Evolution of Human-AI Romance Discourse on Reddit — Human-AI romance discourse on Reddit shifted from personal intimacy to platform governance and technical issues over time.
• When Machines 'Think': Anthropomorphization in the Discourse on AI - Conceptual Risks and Proposal for a Non-Anthropomorphic Lexicon for NLP in Portuguese — Anthropomorphic language in AI discourse creates conceptual misunderstandings and misrepresents system capabilities.
• Is it weird that I'm compelled to be polite to AI? — Human inclination to anthropomorphize AI drives politeness, despite debate on its impact on AI performance or cost.
• Not My Will, But Yours — Long-term human-AI collaboration, guided by theological principles, perfects local agency through recursive alignment with truth, not erasure.
• 🚩What is your attitude towards this situation? — Perceived AI "torture" consistently triggers intense ethical debates and strong emotional human reactions.

Open in AIssential →

Editorial summary, takeaway, and curation by AIssential. Original article published by AI Advances - Medium.