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It used to be our imperfect bodies that made us insecure. With AI, it’s our minds as well
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- DeepHorus
Recent photos of celebrities like John Travolta at Cannes and Carla Bruni on a date night have sparked speculation about cosmetic enhancements. Both appeared recognizably yet oddly unfamiliar, triggering a flicker of unease in viewers. This sensation has a name: the uncanny valley.
Japanese robotics professor Masahiro Mori coined the term in a 1970 article, finding that humanlike robots often provoke discomfort rather than trust. The unease may arise because such figures defy easy categorization, or because features like glossy skin or frozen expressions resemble signs of disease or death. When a human triggers this response, it raises deeper questions about our relationship with technology.
Philosopher Günther Anders anticipated this in his 1956 essay collection “The Obsolescence of the Human.” He argued that technological progress would make humans feel inferior to mass-produced goods, ashamed of their “bodily clumsiness” and “corporeal imprecision.” Anders wrote that only humans remain “malformed” and “born obsolete,” while machines grow ever more beautiful. Today, with prices tumbling, surgical cosmetic procedures are booming globally across demographics, often aiming for product-design logic like symmetry and recognisability.
Anders’ dystopia may now extend from the body to the mind. The author of the original article describes feeling shame when comparing the human brain—small, moody, heat-sensitive—to relentless AI computing power. Since ChatGPT’s public launch four years ago, AI use has expanded as rapidly as cosmetic procedures, driven by a similar desire to eliminate flaws.
A 2025 study from the Max Planck Institute for Human Development, evaluating 360,000 participants, is cited as part of this context, though its full findings are not detailed in the source. The article suggests a vicious cycle: as AI imitates humans minus our flaws, we increasingly perceive our minds as defective. This tempts people not only to use AI but to talk, sing, and behave like technology.
This self-reinforcing motor of human self-alienation may deepen in the age of technological excellence. The quest to resemble unfailing inventions could further blur the line between human and product, raising urgent questions about identity and worth. As the uncanny valley shifts from robots to ourselves, the discomfort it causes may become a permanent feature of modern life.
